BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 511 
Genus PANTERPE Cabanis and Heine. 
Panterpe Capanis and Heine, Mus. Hein., iii, March, 1860, 43, footnote. (Type, 
P. insignis Cabanis and Heine.) 
Rather large Trochilide (length about 105-110 mm.) with the 
slender, compressed bill slightly longer than head, nasal operculum 
inconspicuous or mostly covered by frontal feathering, feet rather 
stout with tarsus mostly naked, tail about two-thirds as long as 
wing, emarginate or double-rounded, with broad and rather soft 
rectrices, and very brilliant coloration, the pileum brilliant blue or 
violet, throat brilliant golden, orange, or scarlet, a blue or violet 
pectoral patch, upper tail-coverts blue, the tail uniform blue-black 
or violet-black. 
Bill slightly longer than head, straight, very slender, compressed; 
culmen rounded but basally contracted into a well-defined ridge; 
tomia smooth; mandible with a distinct lateral median groove or 
sulcus, the maxilla with indication of a similar groove. Nasal oper- 
culum inconspicuous, being mostly covered by the overhanging 
frontal feathers, which anteriorly form a truncated or slightly emar- 
ginate antia. Tarsus rather stout, its upper half clothed with short 
feathers; anterior toes about equal in length, the hallux slightly 
shorter, all the toes rather stout, with well-developed and very 
acute claws. Wing three times (more or less) as long as exposed 
culmen, the outermost primary longest. Tail about two-thirds as 
long as wing, emarginate or slightly double-rounded, the rectrices 
very broad, rather soft. 
Coloration.—Pileum brilliant metallic blue, violet-blue or violet 
bordered posteriorly by velvety black; back, etc., metallic green, 
passing into blue on upper tail-coverts; tail uniform blue-black or 
violet-black; under parts mostly brilliant metallic green but this 
relieved by a violet jugular area and brilliant golden orange or scarlet 
on throat. Sexes alike. 
Range.—High mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama. 
(Monotypic.) 
PANTERPE INSIGNIS Cabanis and Heine. 
IRAZO HUMMING BIRD. 
Adults (sexes alike).-—Forehead and crown bright metallic blue 
(varying from greenish to a slightly purplish hue), the feathers dusky 
gray basally with a bar of velvety black (concealed) between the gray 
basal portion and the metallic blue tip; loral and supra-auricular 
regions, occiput, and nape velvety black (a) changing to bronze or 
dull coppery bronze in position c; back, scapulars, and wing-coverts 
@ After careful examination of a very large series of specimens IJ can not find that 
there is even an average difference of coloration between the sexes, some of the most 
brightly colored specimens being females, while some of the dullest are males, 
