356 TEOCHILID^. 



In Mexico it seems to be essentially a bird of the highlands, being common in the 

 Valley of Mexico. According to de Oca », it feeds from the flowers of Centaurea mexi- 

 cana during the months of May and June. It then, according to that observer, ascends 

 the mountains to the southward, remaining there two months, during which time it 

 breeds. M. Boucard says " it is very common in the environs of Mexico from June to 

 August, and passes on to the State of Oaxaca from September to November. Its 

 presence in the State of Vera Cruz is probably confined to the mountains at the edge 

 of the plateau ; and though specimens are recorded from Jalapa and Mirador, there can 

 be little doubt that they came from the lofty mountains in the neighbourhood of those 



places. 



In Guatemala we believe Selasphorus platycercm to be restricted to the Altos 

 of San Marcos and Quezaltenango, and thence southwards to the edges of the plain of 

 Chimaltenango which lies at an elevation of 6000 feet above the sea. On one occasion, 

 in February, many of these birds were noticed in the mountains above the town of 

 Totonicapam as high as 10,000 feet above sea-level. 



The peculiar formation of the outermost primary in the male of this bird is charac- 

 teristic of the species. The inner web is much reduced in width so that the feather 

 has a filiform point. It is this structure that no doubt produces the shrill sound when 

 the bird is in flight. This was very noticeable in birds that frequented the gardens of 

 the town of Quezaltenango, especially when alarmed they flew rapidly away. 



6. Selasphorus ardens. (Tab. LVI. flg. 1.) 



Selasphorus ardens, Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 209'; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 398 = ; Sharpe, in 

 Gould's Mon. Troch., Suppl. t. 31 (Jan. 1883) '; Ridgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. vii. p. 14*. 



S. platycerco similis, sed minor, supra saturatior, loris efc tectricibus auricularibus mfis his nigro intermixtis ; 

 caudfe rectricibus mediis purpureo nigris ad basin cinnamomeo limbatis, rectrioibus lateralibus pnrpnreo- 

 nigris, in pogonio intemo ad basin oinnamomeis et macula subterminali ejusdem colons notatis : rostro 

 nigro. Long, tota circa 2-8, alas 1-55, caudae 1*15, rostri a rictu 0"65. 



2 jwu. gnla maculis fuscis aut rosaceo-rubris notata ; caudse rectricibus lateralibus ad basin oinnamomeis 

 medialiter viridibus, apicibus paUide cervinis fascia subterminali obscura, rectricibus mediis nitenti- 

 viridibus ad basin cinnamomeis, apicibus obscuris. (Deser. exempl. typ. ex Castillo, Panama. Mus. 

 nostr.) 



Eab. Costa Rica ( Van Patten % Volcan de Poas {Alfaro, in U. S. Nat. Mus.), Las Cruces 

 de Candelaria (Zeledon, in U. 8. Nat. Mus.) ; Panama, Calovevora, Castillo {Arc6 ^). 



Selasphorus ardens was discovered by our collector Arce, who sent us two specimens 

 — one from Castillo, the other, a young male, from Calovevora in the State of Panama i. 

 Other specimens have been since obtained in Costa Rica by several collectors, and 

 identified as belonging to the species by Mr. Ridgway *. 



Like S. placycercus, S. ardens belongs to the section of the genus in which the 

 lateral gular feathers are not elongated. It differs from that bird in having the outer- 

 most primary normal, and from S.flammula in the colour of the central rectrices. 



