90 
AMETHYSTINE HUMMING-BIRD. 
Trochilus amethysiinus—LiNSJEvs. 
Plate IX. 
Trochilus amethystinus, LinruBUS. — ^Amethystine Hum- 
ming-Bird, Latham, General History of Birds, vol. iv. 
p. 357 — Oiseau-mouche amethyste, Buffon Lesson, 
Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux-mouches, and Supplement. 
pis. Ixvii. XX. xxi. xxii. 
This long known but beautiful species Lesson 
bas represented on no less than four Plates, exhibit- 
ing different states of plumage, all of which we shall 
endeavour to make use of to render the present de- 
scription as perfect as possible. The colours of the 
adult are simple, the upper parts are of a fine golden 
green, the lower grey, and the throat is adorned by 
the amethystine patch from whence the name is de- 
rived. The colour of the amethyst must be familiar 
to most persons, and to say that it resembles it, will 
convey the best idea of its beauty. It is surround- 
ed on the lower part with a light grey crescent. 
In the adult the tail is deeply forked, the outward 
feathers being narrow and slender. 
In the Plates representing the birds assuming the 
adult plumage, those parts which shew the amethys- 
tine tints are pure white, the feathers in this state 
