380 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



bronzy green or bronzy above, the middle tail-feathers broadly edged 

 with rufous on inner web, the other tail-feathers with basal half rufous, 

 then purplish black, the two or three outermost broadly tipped with 

 white; gorget rich metallic purplish; chest and other median lower 

 parts white, the sides and flanks rufous, tinged or spotted with green- 

 ish or bronzy. Adult females similar to males, but throat dull white, 

 spotted with dull greenish or bronzy; under tail-coverts pale rufous; 

 four middle tail-feathers without rufous edgings. 



a 1 . Adult male : Outer primary narrow, abruptly attenuated at tip ; gorget brilliantly 



metallic reddisb violet, with decided violet tints in certain lights. Culmen, 



0.48-0.50. Hob., Eastern Mexico. 



A. heloisa (Less, and De Lattr. ). Heloise's Humming Bird. (Page 380.) 

 « 2 . Adult male with outer primary broad, not attenuated at tip; gorget metallic reddish 



purple, without violet tints ; otherwise much like A. heloisa. Culmen, 0.38-0.40. 



Hal)., Highlands of Guatemala. A. ellioli Ridgw. Elliot's Humming Bird.* 



A. heloisa has been included in works on North American birds pub- 

 lished since 1870, on the strength of a specimen erroneously identified 

 as this species, collected by Mr. J. H. Clark, of the United States and 

 Mexican Boundary Survey, at El Paso, Texas.t It is a species of east- 

 ern Mexico, where it inhabits the tropical coast district (aud perhaps 

 the temperate slopes also), and may be expected to occur within our 

 limits along the lower Rio Grande. 



Heloise's Humming Bird. Atlhis heloisa (Less, and De Lattr.). 

 (Plate xlvi.) 



Ornismya heloisa Less, and De Lattr., Rev. Zool., 1839, 15. 



Selasphorus ? heloisa Gould, Mon. Troch., pt. vm, 1854, pi. 2; vol. in, 1861, pi. 141. 



Atthis heloisw Gould, Introd. Troch., oct. ed., 11-61, 89.— Coop., Orn. Cal., i, 1870, 

 361.— B. B. & R., Hist. N. Am. B., n, 1874, 465, pi. 47, fig. 0. 

 Heloisa's Flame-bearer (Gould). 

 L Atthis d'H61oi-e (Mulsant and Verreaux). 

 Chupamirto de peto violado purpiireo (D'Oca). 



Range. — Eastern Mexico. 



Sp. Char. — Adult male, with gorget rich metallic magenta-purple, 

 with steel-blue reflections, the feathers much elongated posteriorly and 

 laterally ; tail feathers all extensively rufous basally, the three outer 

 ones tipped with white and with a subterminal black patch; length 

 about 2.70-2.75 ; wing, 1.30-1.50 ; tail, 0.95-1.10; exposed culmen, 0.45- 

 0.50. Adult female, similar to the male above, except that the middle pair 

 of tail-feathers are without any rufous, while that on the other rectrices 

 is much more restricted ; chin and throat white (tinged with rusty lat- 

 erally), spotted with bronze; chest and middle line of breast and belly 

 dull white; sides aud flanks cinnamon-rufous; under tail-coverts cin- 

 namon-buff; length (skin), 3.25; wing, 1.40; tail, 0.80; exposed culmen, 

 0.48. 



"Atlhis ellioti Ridgw., Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mas., I, July 1, 1878, 9. 

 t See The Auk, Jan., 1891, p. 115. 



