HTPTJEOPTILA. — LAMPORNIS. 277 



be distino;uished by the rich purple-bronze colour of the upper tail-coverts and tail ; the 

 tint of the green of the under surface is dark but without blue shade, and the under 

 tail-coverts are purple-black instead of white. 



We have no evidence of the existence of any member of this genus in Chiriqui, at 

 least not on the Pacific side of the mountain-range. Nor is the genus represented in 

 Western Costa Rica. 



d^. Tectrices subcaudales normales; rectrices laterales purpurea tinctas. 



LAMPORNIS. 



Lampornis, Swainson, Zool. Journ. ill. p. 358; Salv. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 91. 



The purple colour of the greater part of the lateral rectrices in nearly all the species 

 of Lampornis, the shorter rounder tail, and normal under tail-coverts serve to distinguish 

 this genus from Hypuroptila, which otherwise has structural points in common with it. 



The genus contains ten species, of which four occur within our limits, one of them 

 being the very widely ranging L. violicauda, which enters the State of Panama as far 

 as the Line of Railway. The most extensively distributed is L. prevosti, which spreads 

 from the middle of the State of Vera Cruz to Costa Rica, a modified form, L. hendersoni, 

 occupying the island of Old Providence. The fourth species, L. veraguensis, has a very 

 restricted range in the western part of the State of Panama. 



1. Lampornis violicauda. 



Le Colibri a queue violette de Cayenne, Buff. PI. Enl. 671. f. 2 ^. 



Trochilus violicauda, Bodd. Tabl. PI. Enl. p. 41 ''. 



Lampornis violicauda, Elliot^ Ibis, 1872, p. 351' ; Salv. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 93*. 



Lampornis mango, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. vii. p. 319 ' ; Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 365 ". 



Supra nitenti-aureo-viridis, capite summo obscuriore : subtus gutture et abdomine medio nigris, cervicis late- 

 ribus micaati-viridibus, hoc colore cyaneo gradatim transeunte ad guttur nigrum ; hypocbondriis viridibus, 

 subcaudalibus nigris saturate viridescenti-eyaneo lavatis ; caudse rectricibus mediis saturate viridibus, late- 

 ralibus Isete pujpureis chalybeo-cyaneo marginatis : rostro nigro, pedibus nigricantibns. Long, tota 4*5, 

 alse 2-6, caudae 1-4, rostri a rictu 1-1. 

 5 subtus alba, fascia longitudinaU nigra a mento usque ad crissum extendente, subcaudalibus viridibus albo 

 marginatis, rectricibus lateralibus cbalybeo-cyaneo-purpureis, pleiga mediana purpureo-rubida, apieibus albis. 



Hah. Panama, Lion Hill {M^Leannan * ^ ^), Paraiso {Hughes *). — South America, 

 generally from Colombia to South Brazil ^. 



This well-known and widely-ranging species is only found within our limits at the 

 extreme south-eastern portion, i. e. between the line of the Panama Railway and the 

 mainland of South America. In the south it ranges over nearly the whole of Tropical 

 South America, keeping its specific characters with remarkable precision. Only in the 

 birds of Western Ecuador has any separation been attempted of late years, and these 

 were described by Gould as L. iridescens, but the difi'erences are hardly appreciable. 



