309 



SMALL FORK-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 



Trochilus furcatus. T, cotruko-violaceus nitens, vertice gulaqut 



viridi-aureis, alis abdornine caudaque furcata nigris. 

 Glossy violet-blue Humming-Bird, with gold-green crown and 



throat, and black wings, abdomen, and forked tail. 

 Trochilus furcatus. T. curvirostris cceruleo-violaceus, vertice collo 



uropijgioque mridi-aureis, remigibus rectricibusque nigris^ cauda 



bifurca. Lath, ind. orn, 

 Oiseau-mouche violet a queue fourchu. Buff. ois. PI. Enl. 599. 



/• 2. 



Furcated Humming-Bird. Nat. Misc. vol 11. pL Sgy, 

 L'Oiseau-mouch violet a queue fourchu. Viell. pi. 34. 

 Lesser fork-tailed Humming-Bird. Lath, syn. 



This is a species of peculiarly neat appearance. 

 It measures about four inches in total length, and 

 has the tail deeply forked : the crown of the head 

 and upper part of the neck are of a dusky colour, 

 with a changeable green lustre : the chin and 

 throat of the richest and most brilliant gold-green ; 

 the back and breast glossy violet-blue : the abdo- 

 men dusky black, with a whitish bar across the 

 vent: the wings and tail violet-black, and the 

 upper tail-coverts gold-green. It is a native of 

 several parts of South America and of some of the 

 larger West- Indian islands. The bill in this spe- 

 cies, as in some others, is so very slightly curved 

 that it may with nearly equal propriety be ranked 

 in either division of the genus, which has accord- 

 ingly been done by different authors; Gmelin, in 

 his edition of the Systema Naturse of Linnseus, 



