EUSTEPHANUS LEYBOLDI, Gowa.,

Leybold’s Firecrown.

Eustephanus leyboldi, Gould, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 4th series, vol. vi. p. 406.—Seclater,
Ibis, 1871, p. 181.—Reed, Ibis, 1874, p. 84.—Mulsant, Hist. Nat. Oiseaux-
Mouches, p. 256.—Elliot, S Synopsis Trochil. p. 94.

 

 

Axour ten years ago Dr. Leybold, of the Santiago Museum, Chili, was in London, and frequently visited
my house, when we bad several conversations respecting the Humming-birds of the Juan-Fernandez group,
concerning which he had much to tell me. Amongst other things which interested me greatly was the
information Dr. Leybold gave about the Firecrowns of Juan Fernandez. He promised me that on
his return to Chili he would send a collector and get me specimens, if possible, from the group, which
promise he faithfully fulfilled, with the result that a new species of Humming-bird was found to exist on the
hitherto unexplored island of Mas-a-fuera.

I described the species in 1870 from specimens presented to me by Dr. Leybold; and in attaching that
gentleman’s name to it I was only adding one more acknowledgment of his zeal and devotion to the
Museum under his charge, while at the same time it expressed my own personal obligations to him for his
kindness in seeking out the specimens for me.

It is an interesting fact in connexion with the present species that it is only the female bird that gives
characters for specific separation from 2. fernandensis. It is an unusual thing for species to be founded on
the female birds ; but there are several parallel cases known to ornithologists where the males are nearly
alike, while the females are quite different. The following description of the species is taken from my
original account of L. leybold:.

It has a glittering crown, and is in many respects very similar to the bird usually called Z. stokes, but
differs in having a longer bill, and in the spots on the throat being bronzy and disposed in lines down that
part of the under surface and the flanks, as in ZL. galeritus, stead of being generally dispersed over the
throat and clustered on the face, as in Z. stokesi; but the greatest difference between the two consists in
the colouring of the tail-feathers, those of Z. stokesi having their outer w ebs green, and their inner ones
wholly white, while in the present bird the outer webs and the basal portion of the inner ones are green,
and only the apical portion of the latter white.

Total length 43 inches, bill +6, wing 2%, tail 2, tarsus

The figures in the Plate are drawn from the ty key specimens in my collection, and represent a pair of

ce oo

birds of the size of life.