Genera of Humming Birds. 345 



Genus CXXXVIII. Alcidius, Nov. Gen. 



Oreotrochilus, Gould, P.Z.S., 1847, p. 10. 



Type : O. estellae, d'Orbigny. 



Bill short, slender, slightly curved, about the length of the 

 head. Throat brightly coloured in males. Wings narrow, 

 long, reaching nearly the end of tail. Tail pointed, feathers 

 narrow and rigid, outermost shortest, laterals slightly and 

 graduallv longer, medians of the same length as the laterals 

 next to it, or slio-htlv lonorer. Feet strono^ the hind toe and 

 nail about equal in length to the middle toe and nail. Tarsi 

 clothed. Sexes unlike in plumage. 



Habitat. — Peru, Bolivia and Chili. 



467. Alcidius estellae, D'Orb and Lafr., Syn. Av., 1838, 



P- 32- 

 Ortliorhynchus estella, d'Orb, Voy., Amer., Mérid., 1835-44, 

 t. 4, p. 376. 



Trochilus ceciliae, Less., Rev. Zool., 1843, p. 43. 

 Oreotrochilus estellae, Gould, Mon. Troch., vol. ii., p. 70. 



Estella' s Hill Star, Gould, Mon. Troch., vol. ii., p. 70. 



r Oreotrochile di Estelle, Muls., Hist. Nat. Ois. Mou., 1876, 

 t. ii., p. 170. 



Habitat. — Bolivia and Peru. 



Male. — Upperside olive-green, passing to bronze-green on 

 the uppertail-coverts. Median rectrices dark bronzy-green, 

 remainder white, bordered and tipped with brown. Throat 

 brilliant grass-green, bordered beneath by a line of bluish- 

 black. Breast and abdomen white. In the centre of the 

 later a line of deep chestnut. Undertail-coverts and flanks 

 olive-brown. Wings brown, with purplish reflections. Bill 

 black. 



Total length, 5in. Wing, 2|-. Tail, 2\. Culmen, |-. 



Female. — Differs from the male in having the throat spotted 

 with brown, the underside rufous-brown, and the lateral tail 

 feathers white, crossed with a band of green in the centre. 



It is a very rare species. 



I have made a new genus with this species and the four 

 following ones, because they are quite distinct, in generical 



