BIRDS TROCHILIDAE ATTHIS COSTAE. 
139 
emarginated ; the first or outer feather very little shorter than the second and third, which are 
about equal. The middle feathers are about 0.12 of an inch shorter than the second. The outer 
feather is very narrow and linear, about 0.06 wide ; the next is twice as wide ; all are rather 
linear rounded, or but little acute at the end. In the female the tail is rounded. The feathers 
broader. 
The top of the head and the occiput of this species, with the throat and a long ruff on each 
side, about 0.60 of an inch long, are covered with brilliant metallic scales, having various 
reflections of light purple, violet, and steel blue and green, the steel green predominating on 
the points of the ruff. The rest of the upper parts, with the wing coverts, and the sides of the 
body and breast, are metallic' green. The throat behind the scales and between the ruffs, the 
sides of the head behind the eye, the upper part of the breast, the middle of the belly, the 
space around the legs, ths vent and under tail coverts, are whitish ; the latter with some green 
spots. The wings and tail feathers are brown ; the latter darker towards the end. The central 
ones are green on their upper surface. 
The female is green above and on the sides of the body. The under parts are whitish, with 
brownish spots on the throat. The top of the head is likewise tinged with brown. The 
tail feathers are black in the middle, all tipped with white,, though the amount of white rapidly 
decreases from the exterior to the centre. 
This species is readily distinguished from the others belonging to the fauna of the United 
States, excepting A. anna, by the metallic scales of the tip of the head. It is much smaller 
than the last mentioned species ; the ruff is much longer, and with the other scales on the head 
of a different color, being purplish violet, not purple red, and the former species being destitute 
of the metallic green reflections. The white behind the eye and bordering the ruff is much 
less distinct in anna. 
The female of this species differs much from the male in the absence of the metallic scales on 
the head and throat. It has a close resemblance to the female T. colubris, although the bill is 
smaller and narrower. The tail feathers are narrower, more linear, and less acutely pointed 
at the tip. The black on the outer tail feathers, instead of extending very nearly to the base, 
is confined to the terminal half, the basal portion being green. All the tail feathers are 
terminated by white, although that on the fourth and fifth is very narrow. In T. colubris this 
color is confined to the three outer ones. The much smaller size alone appears to distinguish 
it from the female of A. anna. 
The specimen (6073) from New Mexico is decidedly different from others I have seen from 
California and Guatemala, in the great length of the ruff, which reaches back 1.66 of an inch 
from the base of the bill, instead of 1.45 or 1.50 ; the tips posteriorly having steel blue and green 
reflections, instead of being uniform purplish violet. This may, however, be indicative of a 
greater degree of maturity. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. 
No. 
Sex. 
Locality. 
When collected. 
Whence obtained. 
Orign'l 
No. 
Collected by— 
6073 
<? 
Bill Williams' river, camp 117, N.M 
February 9, 1854 
Lieut. Whipple. 
79 
Dr. Kennerly and 
6074 
Q 
80 
H. B. M5Ilhausen 
Fort Tejon, California 
7977 
Guatemala _ 
