3 ° 
PICARIAN BIRDS. 
Rivoli A long straight beak, a forked tail nearly uniform in colour, 
Humming-Bird. w ithout any white in it, and a brilliant coloration—to wit, a body of 
bronzy green, a crown of rich metallic violet, a throat of glittering green, and an 
under surface changing with the light from velvety black to green — are the 
characters distinguishing the single species of the genus Eugenes, called after the 
Due de Rivoli, first found in the highlands of Guatemala, and extending northwards 
to Mexico and to Southern Arizona. In the first-named country this bird was seen 
by Mr. Salvin, who writes “ that it is a most pugnacious bird. Many a time have I 
thought to secure a fine male, which I had perhaps been following from tree to tree, 
and had at last seen quietly perched on a leafless twig, when my deadly intention 
has been frustrated by one less so in fact, but to all appearances equally so in will. 
Another humming-bird rushes in, knocks the one I covet off his perch, and the two 
go fighting and screaming away at a pace hardly to be followed by the eye. 
Another time this flying fight is sustained in mid-air, the belligerents mounting- 
higher and higher till the one worsted in battle darts away seeking shelter, 
followed by the victor, who never relinquishes the pursuit till the vanquished, by 
doubling and hiding, succeeds in making his escape. These fierce raids are not 
waged alone between members of the same species. Eugenes fulgens attacks with 
equal ferocity Amazilia dumerili, and, animated by no high-souled generosity, 
scruples not to tilt with the little Trochilus colubris. I know of hardly any 
species which shows itself more brilliantly than this on the wing, yet it is not to 
the mid-day sun that it exhibits its splendour. When the southerly winds bring 
clouds and driving mists between the volcanoes of Agua and Fuego, and all is as 
in a November fog in England, except that the yellow element is wanting, then it 
is that Eugenes f ulgens appears in numbers: Amazilia devillei, instead of a few 
scattered birds, is to be seen in every tree; and Trochilus colubris in great 
abundance. Such animation awakes in humming-bird life as would hardly be 
credited by one who had passed the same spot an hour or two before ; and the 
flying to and fro, the humming of wings, momentary and prolonged combats, and 
the incessant battle-cries seem almost enough to turn the head of a lover of these 
things.” The nesting of this species in Arizona is described by Mr. Poling, who 
relates that he was resting under a pine-tree, when he heard the noise of a 
humming-bird’s wing close to his head, and on looking up he found a female Rivoli 
humming-bird making perpendicular dives at him. When he moved away, the 
bird alighted on a dead twig, and at last, when about fifty feet up the tree, she 
made a dart for a limb, and there at a distance of ten feet from the trunk was the 
nest, which was secured only with difficulty. 
King Humming- Two beautiful species alone represent the genus Topaza, one 
Birds. being T. pella of Guiana, in which the outer tail-feathers are 
cinnamon; while the second is T. pyra, from the Rio Negro and Eastern Ecuador 
distinguished by the purplish black tint of the same feathers. Both species are 
characterised by the tail-feather on each side of the middle pair being elongated, 
curving outwards, and then crossing its fellow, as shown in the illustration. 
In the humming-birds commonly designated hill-stars ( Oreotro- 
cliilus ), the beak is relatively short and curved, while the toes are 
proportionately large, and the tail is squared, with narrow feathers. These birds 
Hill-Stars. 
