302 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



iug to the species); iudeed, as Mr. Gould truly says, these birds "are 

 unequaled for the rich metallic brilliancy of certain parts of their 



Fig. 32.— Head of Calothorax luci/er, J. 



Fig. 33. — Head of Trochilus colubris, <f. 



Fig. 34.— Head of My His fanny, J . 



plumage by any other members of the family," the color of the head 

 and ruffs being " as glitteringly resplendent as if they had been dipped 

 in molten metal." 



Fig. 35. — Head of Stellula calliope, rf. 



Fig. 36. — Head of Oalypte anna, J. 



In all the gorgeted Humming Birds except the genera Atthis and 

 Tilmatura the males have the tail either plain purplish dusky or else 

 varied only with rufous (as in the species of Selasplwrus), the middle 

 pair of feathers, however, usually shining green, like the back. The 

 females all have the tail not only different in form but also totally dif- 

 ferent in coloration ; the feathers, except the middle pair (sometimes 

 two middle pairs), having a white tip, preceded by a subterminal baud 

 or space of blackish, the basal portion being green or rufous. This 

 type of coloration, however, characterizes both sexes in the genus 

 Atthis, which otherwise appears closely related to the genera Trochilus, 

 Selasphorus, and Calypte. In Tilmatura the tail feathers are strikingly 

 marked with alternate patches of black, white, and rufous. 



Other genera have instead of the typical humming-bird gorget a 

 beard-like tuft depending from the middle of the throat, and usually 

 very brilliantly metallic in coloration. The extreme forms which this 

 beard-like tuft assume are shown by the accompanying figures. 



The fantastic markings, towering crests, and lengthened beards of 

 the species of Oxypogon, says Mr. Gould, render these birds very con- 

 spicuous objects notwithstanding their plain coloration. 



Crests are comparatively uncommon among the Humming Birds, only 

 nine of the more than one hundred genera containing species which are 



