362 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



ers as ornaments for their superb mantles in the time of Montezuma, and in embroid- 

 ering the pictures so much extolled by Cortez. Their name signifies in the Indian 

 language ' beams or locks of the sun,' and their feathers are still worn by the Indian 

 ladies as ornaments for the ears." 



I have numerous specimens of this bird in my collection, and observe that those 

 procured in one locality differ somewhat from those obtained in another ; for in- 

 stance, the examples collected by my friend Floresi in the neighborhood of the Real 

 del Monte mines are larger and altogether more powerful birds than those brought to 

 this country by M. Salle" and other collectors from Cordova. Bullock speaks with 

 great truth when he states that the sexes differ considerably, for it is only those 

 persons who are conversant with this extensive group as a whole who can, with any 

 degree of certainty, pair many of the species. 



Genus AMAZILIA Eeichenbach. 



Amazilia Reich., Syst. Av., 1849, pi. 39. Type, Orthorhynchus amazili Less. 



Amasili8 Gray, Gen. B., i, 1840. — Amazilius Bonap., 1849. — Amazillia, Scl. and Salv., 

 1859. 



Pyrrhophama Cab. and Heine, Mus. Hein., ill, 1860, 35. Same type. 



Hemithylaca Cab. and Heine, Mus. Hein., in, 1860, 37. Type, TrocMlus niveoventris 

 Gould. 



Hemistilbon Gould, Introd. Troch., oct. ed., 1861, 149. Type, Amazilia ocai Gould. 



Eranna Heine, J. f. O. 1863, 187. Type, Ornismya cinnamomea Less. 



Eratina Heine, J. f. O., 1863, 190, 191. Type TrocMlus iodurus Saucerott. 



Ariana Muls. and Verr., Class. Troch., 1866, 36. Type, TrocMlus niveoventer Gould. 



Leucodora Muls. and Verr., Hist. Nat. Ois.-Mouch., i, 1877, 309. Type, TrocMlus ed- 

 wardi, Bourc. and Delattr. 



Myleles (subgenus) Muls. and Verr., Hist. Nat. Ois.-Mouch., i, 1877, 284. Type, Tro- 

 cMlus yucatanensis Cabot. 



Saucerottia Bonap., Compt.-Rend., 1850, 381. Type, TrocMlus saucerottii Bourc. and 

 Delattr. 



Erythronota Gould, Intr. Troch., oct. ed., 1861, 16. Ornismya erythronota Less. 



Eratopis Heine, J. f. O., 1863, 191. Type, TrocMlus cyanifrons Bourc. 



Erasuria Heine, J. f. O., 1863, 191. Type, ErytM-onota elegans Gould. 



Lisaria Muls., Cat. Ois.-Mouch., 1875, 11. Type, HemitMjlaca warszeiviczi Cab. and 

 Heine. 



Generic characters. — Bill longer than head, straight; nostrils 

 uncovered; wing normal; tail more than half as long as wing, emar- 

 ginate, the feathers broad and rather stiff; tarsi densely feathered ; 

 under parts plain metallic green, plain cinnamon-rufous, or green ante- 

 riorly, and white, buff, or cinnamon-rufous posteriorly, the chest some- 

 times white ; tail chestnut, purplish black, or blue-black ; sexes alike. 



Although the two dozen or more species which Mr. D. G. Elliot* has 

 included in this genus have usually been distributed through a greater 

 or less number of so-called genera, I am forced by a careful examination 

 and comparison of the types of the several generic names given in the 

 above synonymy to agree with the gentleman just mentioned in his 

 reduction of these names to the rank of synonyms. Amazilia ocai 

 Gould and Erythronota elegans Gould, I have not seen, but have little 

 doubt that the names Hemistilbon Gould and Erasuria Heine, based 

 upon them, respectively, are also synonyms of Amazilia. In fact, some 



* Classification and Synopsis of the Trochilidte, pp. 216-226. 



