CATHARMA ORTHURA.

Lesson’s Flame-bearer.

Ornismyia orthura, Lesson, Hist. Nat. 'Trochilid. pp- 86, 88, pls. 28, 29 (1831).

Trochilus orthurus, Reichenb. Aufz. der Colibri, p. 12 (1853).—Trochil. Enum. p. 10 (1855).

Tryphena orthura, Bp. Rey. et Mag. de Zool. 1854, p. 257.

Catharma orthura, Elliot, Ibis, 1876, p- 400.—Mulsant, Hist. Nat. Oiseaux-Mouches, iv.
p- 66 (1877).—Elliot, Synopsis of the Humming-Birds, p. 112 (1878).

 

Tuts species remained in obscurity till the year 1876, when Mr. Elliot, having acquired the types for his
collection, identified it as a perfectly distinct form of Humming-bird, and made it the type of a new genus,
having the form of an A¢tthis but the plumage of a Calliphlov. His remarks on the species in ‘The Ibis’
must be consulted by any one wishing to understand the history of the species.

The following is Mr, Elliot’s account of the typical specimens in his collection :-—

‘ Adult male. Kutire upper parts dark shining grass-green. Behind the eye a small white spot. Throat
metallic amethystine red, rather dull, beneath which is a band of greyish white extending up the sides of
the neck; rest of underparts grey, tinged with green, lightest in the centre of the abdomen. Median
rectrices bronze-green, lateral ones green at base, rest black, with a faint indication of white at the tip.
Wings purplish brown. Bill black. Total Jength 23 inches, wing 12, tail $, culmen 3.

“* Young male. Above golden green. Throat white, spotted with metallic red, and bounded beneath with a
band of green, followed by another of white. Underparts deep buff, washed with green in lower part of
breast. Middle rectrices bronze-green, lateral ones green at base, rest black, tipped with white.

“Adult female. Above dark green. Ear-coverts, cheeks, and a line around lower part of the throat
blackish brown. Throat white, spotted with brown. A band of white across the breast, beneath which is
another of dark brown. Rest of underparts rufous. Central rectrices bronze-green, lateral ones bronze-
green, with an apical black band. Under tail-coverts pale bronze-green, margined with grey. Wings
purple. Bill and feet black. Dimensions as in the male.”

[R. B. S.J

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