Mars sun-angel. 
176 
The crown of its head and the little crest are blackish-brown, and each feather has one 
small spot of buff on its tip. The upper parts of the body are of a dark shining green, with a 
slight buffy wash, and on the tips of several of the secondaries there is a little white spot. 
The two central feathers of the tail 
are a dark glossy green with small 
white tips, and the others are of the 
same hue in their outer webs, greenish- 
brown on the inner, and largely tipped 
with white. The under surface is 
brownish-black, diversified with some 
dark buff streaks upon the throat and 
breast, and with white streaks upon 
the abdomen and flanks ; the under 
tail-coverts are brown fringed with 
buff. The total length of the bird is 
about four and a half inches. 
Another species belonging to the 
same genus, Condamine’s Sickle- 
bill ( Eutoxeres condamini ), is re- 
markable for its propensity to inhabit 
high ground. It is a very rare bird, 
and whenever it is discovered, it is 
seen feeding among the orchidaceous 
plants, at an elevation of ten thousand 
feet above the level of the sea. 
The little group of Humming- 
birds called the Sun-angels are all 
remarkable for the exceeding lustre 
of the feathers which decorate their sickle-bill humming-bird . — Eutoxeres aquiia . 
throats, and the general beauty of their 
plumage. In nearly every species there is a white or buff crescentic mark immediately below 
the gorget, and they are all inhabitants of the Andes. Concerning the Mars Sun-angel and 
its habits Mr. Gould speaks in the following words : — 
“ Of all the species of the Andean Humming-birds belonging to the genus Heliangelos, I 
regard this as the most beautiful and interesting ; it has all the charms of novelty to recom- 
mend it, and it stands alone, too, among its congeners, no other member of the genus similarly 
colored having been discovered up to the present time. The throat vies with the radiant topaz, 
while the band on the forehead rivals in brilliancy the frontlet of every other species. . . . 
The country in which this rare bird flies is the elevated region of Northern Columbia, par- 
ticularly the flat Paramos of Portachuela and Zambador, where Messrs. Funck and Schlim 
found it at an elevation of from seven thousand to nine thousand feet ; they also met with it 
in the Paramos of Los Conejos at a similar elevation. In those districts there doubtless exist 
other fine species at present unknown to us, for we can scarcely imagine that these travellers 
procured examples of all the species of the genera which dwell therein, and which we may 
reasonably expect to be as rich in the feathered tribes as it is in another department of 
Nature’s wonderful works, Botany.” 
In the male bird there is a narrow mark upon the forehead of a deep fiery red, and the 
crown of the head and the upper surface of the body are bronze-green. Behind each eye there 
is a very small white spot, and a jetty -black cross-streak is drawn from the angle of the mouth 
towards the neck. The throat is decorated with a gorget of deep fiery red, below which is a 
crescent-shaped band of whitish buff, and the abdomen is deeper buff, changing to green upon 
the flanks. The two central feathers of the tail are bronze-green, and the remainder bronze- 
