EUTOXEEES. 315 



Supra saturate nitenti-viridis, pilco obscuriore, uropygio caeruleo tincto hoc fulvo limbato : subtus nigrescens, 

 gutturis plumis rncdialiter pallide cervinis, abdominis albis ; cauda viridi-brunnea, apice alba : rostro nigro, 

 mandibula ad basin flava. Long, tota 5-3, alae 3-0, caudae 23, rostri a rictu 1-2. 



2 mari similis. (Descr. maris et feminse ex Calovevora, Panama. Mns. nostr.) 



Hab. Costa Rica, Tunialba {Arce'^),'RoYalo {Warszeioiez'^); Pa^xama, Belen- (i/em^ *), 

 Chitra, Calovevora'^, Calobre (Arce). 



This remarkable bird is found in many parts of Western Panama, and thence north- 

 wards to the lowlands of Costa Eica lying on the Atlantic slope of the Cordillera. It 

 is apparently absent from the line of the Panama Eailway, but two closely allied forms 

 occur in South America — one in Colombia, the other in Eciiador. 



The presence of this species in the State of Panama was first detected by Dr. Merritt, 

 who observed it in the district of Belen, where he obtained several specimens, which he 

 sent to Mr. Lawi-ence accompanied with the following note : — " It was as near as I can 

 recollect during the month of September, 1852, that I saw for the first time and 

 obtained a specimen of this (to me) curious and novel bird. I was at that time 

 stationed in the mountainous district of Belen, province of Veraguas, New Granada. 



"My attention at that particular time was directed towards the collection of 

 specimens of the Humming-Bird family. One day while out hunting a short distance 

 from the camp for these chefs-d'oeuvre of nature in the feathered race, I was startled by 

 the swift approach of a small object through the close thicket, which darted like a rifle- 

 bullet past me, with a loud hum and buzzing of wings. Indeed, it was this great noise 

 that accompanied its flight, which being so much greater than I had ever heard before 

 from any of these winged meteors of the southern forests, that especially attracted my 

 attention as something uncommon. 



" The bird continued its flight but a short distance beyond the spot where I stood, 

 when it suddenly stopped in its rapid course directly in front of a flower. There for a 

 moment poising itself in this position, it darted upcm- the flower in a peculiar manner ; 

 in fact, the movements which now followed of this little creature were exceedingly 

 curious to me. Instead of inserting its beak into the calyx by advancing in a direct 

 line towards the flower, as customary with this class of birds according to my limited 

 observations, this one performed a curvilinear movement, at first stooping forward whUe 

 it introduced its beak into the calyx, and then, when apparently the point of the beak 

 had reached the desired locality in the flower, its body suddenly dropped downAvards, 

 so that it seemed as though it was suspended from the flower by the beak. That this 

 was not actually the case, the continued rapid movement of its wings demonstrated 

 beyond a doubt. In this position it remained the ordinary length of time, and then by 

 performing these movements in the reverse order and direction, it freed itself from the 

 flower, and afterwards proceeded to the adjoining one^ when the same operation was 

 repeated as already described." 



Dr. Merritt proceeds to describe the flower as that of a " species of palm, the blossoms 



40* 



