EUGENES. 329 



this species is found in great abundance at certain seasons, feeding from the flowers of 

 the tree-convolvulus {Ipomcea murucoides), and flying on cloudy misty afternoons, the 

 males fighting incessantly with one another and with every other species of Humming- 

 Bird frequenting the same place. The females do not join in the same company, and 

 therefore are, or appear to be, much rarer than the males. 



The southern limit of this species is Southern Nicaragua, whence we have recently 

 received two specimens from Mr. Eichardson, who shot them at San Eafael del Norte in 

 March and April 1892. 



In Mexico, in the neighbourhood of Jalapa and Coatepec, de Oca says ^^ that this 

 species is found in spring and summer, but is more common in autumn, feeding from 

 the flowers of Centaurea lenedicta. He also says that it is found in the Valley of 

 Mexico, a statement confirmed by many other observers, but that he never found its 

 nest. Villada tells us ^^ that E. fulgens is one of the first Humming-Birds to arrive in 

 spring, appearing in March when the species of Cereus are in flower, and frequenting 

 other Cacti as well as Agave. Later in the year it seeks Lobelia laxiflora and JErythrirui 

 Gorallodendron. In the month of June, when these plants have finished flowering, it 

 retires to the neighbouring hills where JBouvadia abounds ; in August and September 

 it returns to the plains when Salvia patens and S. fulgens bloom, and at the commence- 

 ment of autumn it retires to the south-eastward not to return till the following spring. 

 M. Boucard says^ that it is very common in Mexico in June and July and equally abundant 

 at La Parada, where he resided for a long time. He obtained many specimens when 

 they were feeding from the flowers of Carduaceoe which grew in his garden. 



The species was first discovered by Bullock in Mexico, and his specimens were 

 described by Swainson in 1827 ^. A few years afterwards Lesson redescribed and figured 

 the bird as 0. rivolii ^^. Lichtenstein's uncharacterized name Trochilus melanogaster ^^ 

 was probably based on birds sent to the Berlin Museum by Deppe. Lesson figured and 

 described a female of this species as a female of Cceligena clemencicB ^^. 



M. Boucard has very kindly lent us his type of Eugenes viridiceps which he described 

 ia 1878 from a single specimen found in a collection of bird-skins made near Coban in 

 Vera Paz ^^. 



The specimen is a very curious one, and may be, we think, an immature male. The 

 upper surface resembles that of Eugenes fulgens, except that the crown is partially 

 covered with glittering olive-green feathers, which in a young E. fulgens would be rich 

 violet-blue. The under surface is sordid grey, darker on the flanks, which are also 

 washed with golden green. The feathers of the throat are shaped like those of the 

 male E. fulgens, that is to say, they are squamose with rounded ends ; but the glittering 

 colour is eutirely gone, except in the case of a few on the left side, and these are 

 glittering green. The tail is peculiar, and diff'ers from that of the female Eugenes 

 fulgens in having wider white tips to the lateral rectrices, the bases of which are pale 

 green, a male character. The bUl is rather longer than the average in E. fulgens. As the 



BIOL. CENTE.-AMEK., Aves, Vol. II., September 1892. 42 



