330 TEOCHILID^. 



glittering feathers of the crown are not quite uniform in colour, some being bluer than 

 others, and as the bright colour has disappeared from the feathers of the throat, we are 

 on the whole inclined to think that this bird is a specimen of Eugenes fulgens in an 

 abnormal state of plumage, due probably to disease. This view is further strengthened 

 by the fact that it came from a country where birds have for many years been collected 

 in tens of thousands, and no other has, so far as we know, been found like it. At the 

 same time, in placing it under Eugenes fulgens, we must state that we shall welcome 

 further evidence, in the form of additional specimens in more perfect plumage, which 

 will prove Eugenes viridiceps to be a valid species. 



2. Eugenes spectabilis. 



Heliomaster spectabilis, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. viii. p. 472 ' ; Salv. Ibis, 1868, p. 251 ^. 



Eugenes spectabilis, Salv. Ibis, 1869, p. 316 ^ ; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 304 * ; Lawr. Ann. 

 Lye. N. Y. ix. p. 121 ' ; x. p. 140 ° ; v. Frantz. J. f. Orn. 1869, p. 315 ' ; Boucard, P. Z. S, 

 1878, p. 68'; Sharps, in Gould's Mon. Troch., Suppl. t. 13 (April 1885) '; Zeledon, An. 

 Mus. Nac. Costa Eica, 1887, p. 121 ". 



E. fuTgenti similis, sed pectore nitenti-viridi nee nigro ; rectricibus lateralibus ad apieem obseurioribus ; cauda 

 minus profunde furcata distinguendus. (Deser. maris ex Irazu, Costa Eica. Mus. nostr.) 



Hob. Costa Rica {A. C. Garcia^, 'Endres% Rancho Redondo (Carmiol^, Zeledon), 

 Volcan de Irazu {Arc6 ^, Boucard ®, Rogers *, Zeledon ^^). 



Mr. Lawrence's original description of this species was based upon a female which 

 he assigned to the genus Heliomaster ^ ; but Gould on seeing the type considered it a 

 Eugenes, in which opinion he was undoubtedly right ^. Salvin for some time hesitated 

 to admit the distinctness of E. spectaMlis from E. fulgens, being guided by an imma- 

 ture male sent by Arce from the Volcan de Irazu. Now that adult males have been 

 received, there can be no doubt that the two birds, though closely allied, are really 

 separated by fairly definite characters. 



E. spectabilis, like E. fulgens, doubtless frequents mountainous districts of consider- 

 able elevation, being found, according to M. Boucard, at an altitude ranging between 

 6000 and 8000 feet above sea-level on the Volcan de Irazu, where it resorts to a 

 parasitic plant resembling a mistletoe which bears a red flower ^. Its range seems to 

 be very limited and confined to the mountains of Costa Rica. 



f". nostrum breve ; stria postocularis alba. 

 c*. Rostrum modice curvatum ; cauda rectricibus lateralibus albo terminatis. 



CGELIGENA. 

 Cceligena, Lesson, Ind. gen. Troeh. p. xviii; Salv. Cat, Birds Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 304. 



The smgle species belonging to this genus, though closely alUed to EelaUria, which 

 has as often as not been placed in it, is nevertheless a somewhat peculiar bird. The 

 bUl is slightly more curved than in the genera which foUow, and none of them have 



