PLATE CXXXVII. 



within the Hmits of that number we find many kinds of more than 

 usual elegance ; most of them are birds of gay and lively coloured 

 plumage, and some even are remarkable for their splendour. The 

 example of the genus now before us is one of those which we con- 

 ceive can scarcely fail to arrest attention in this respect ; the pre- 

 vailing colour of the plumage is a vivid green of very pleasing hue, 

 contrasted with other colours of still more decided brilliancy, and 

 those so disposed as to form in the aggregate a picture of most 

 striking and peculiar aspect. The length of this bird is about nine 

 inches, its Ibrm and symmetry graceful ; the bill long, slender, and 

 of a blackish colour 5 the crown of the head is green ; the throat of 

 the purest carmine red with a blush of scarlet, and those two colours, 

 the green and red, so finely contrasted, are divided into distinct 

 spaces by a band of deep black passing backwards from the base of 

 the bill through the region of the eye, towards the back of the head. 

 The back, like the head, is of a fine green, but is glossed with 

 vinaceous and tints of yellow : the wings are of lovely green, yet 

 more vivid than the back, and the quill feathers at the extremities 

 are fine blue. The breast partakes of the vinaceous hues of the 

 dorsal region, below which the colour is buff inclining to fulvous, and 

 this colour, somewhat paler, pervades the whole of the abdominal 

 region down to the thighs and vent, which are of a rich mazarine 

 blue, and in some specimens the colour of the lower region of the 

 abdomen is divided from the blue colour of the thighs and vent by 

 a line or bar of white. The rump and tail are green, the latter 

 dashed at the exterior edge of each feather about the middle with 

 orange. The legs are blackish. 



The greater length of the bill and shortness of the legs are 

 admirably well adapted to the habits of this tribe of birds ; they 



