316 



IVith strait Bills, 



RACKET-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 



Trochilus platurus. T, liridi-aureus, abdomine remigibus caudaque 

 fuscis, rectricibus duabus mediis nudis apice pennatis. 



Gold-green Humraing-Bird, with brown belly, quill-feathers, and 

 tail J the two middle tail-feathers naked with webbed tips. 



L'Oiseau-mouche a raquettes. Buff, ois, VielL pi. 52. 



Trochilus platurus. T, rectirostris viridi- aureus, gula smarag- 

 dina, rectricibus rachi expansa rufo-albay intermediis duabu$ 

 sefaceis elongatis, apice expansis. Lath. ind. orn. 



Trochilus longicaudus. Lin. Gmel. 



Racket-tailed Humming-Bird. Lath, syn. 



The total length of this singular species is about 

 three inches and three quarters, and its colour 

 deep green-gold, except on the throat, which is very 

 brilhant: the belly, wings, and tail are violet-black, 

 and the latter is of a remarkable appearance, being 

 deeply forked, with the feathers all of a pointed 

 shape, and the two exterior ones extending very 

 considerably beyond the rest in the form of naked 

 shafts, plumed only at the tip, so as to represent 

 the shape of a racket or battledore. 



In the description given of this species by the 

 Count de Buffon a mistake is made in stating the 

 two middle tail-feathers instead of the two exterior 

 ones to be the longest. It should be observed also 

 that these two feathers, till they arrive at a small 

 distance beyond the rest, are plumed on the sides, 

 after which the web gradually shortens, leaving 



c 



