SPORADINUS RICCORD]
Riccord’s Hum ming-Bird. |

Orthorhynchus Ricordi, Ramon de la Sagra, Hist. de Cul ]
SSRIS. Ce Wilba, pe W228) 4 5

eo jad At re > P. 48. tab. 21. fig. 2
Ornismya Parzudhaki, Less. Rey. Zool. 1838, p. 315. eee
moradinus ricordi, Bona ev. et Mac
Sporadin onap. Rey. et Mae. de Zool. 1854, p- 255

Ps vo ° . \ PONT «¢ . > - ;
Hylochai is Ricordi, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds WO te yo, WIL 7
I 7 Goey. Map. de Zool. 1835. Os 1. a og

ordi, . Mag. de Zool. 1835, Ois.
Trochilus, sp. 2.

Riecordia Raimondi, Reichenb. Auf. der Col., p. 8

| sp. 23.
, pls. 41, 42.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p- 81

Chlorestes riccordu, Gundl. in Cab. Journ. fiir Orn. 1856, tom. ; 99
. 1856, vane 9:

 

[ nave frequently had occasion to remark alee aspen

q y he ‘ remark how limited are the areas affected by so i :

; f birds, many being y some species of this great
group of birds, many being confined to even the smallest of the Wes . : 5
s allest of the West Indian Islands; indeed, most of those
islands are tenanted by species peculiar to each, and Cuba is ane Coen

a 5 | , /uba 1s not an exception to the rule,—two, at least,
of the species which fly there are no » fi ‘lsewhere Steen

a E . : a a be found elsewhere. Besides being remarkable for the limited
extent of its habitat, this species 1s rendered ¢ ic Sea GhCnninNrns :
ee " | | ered conspicuous by differing in structure from (with one exception )
all the other members of the family; this difference of structure eee .
oh a : ) s difference of structure, however, is only appreciable by the Tro-
chilidist and those who have paid much attenti , fect. The dite . eae

ae i pi attention to the subject. The differences referred to principally
consist in the long ai rked for ’ the tail, « > peculiar s ene :

i. ng id forked form of the tail, and the peculiar shape of the feathers of which it is com-
osed,—features which are fe j . “4r specie ; SC ema : ee “hs
ee te oes are found in one other species only, the Sporadinus elegans, a bird inhabiting the
island of St. Domingo.

I have great pleasure in extracting a short note from the ‘ Journal fiir Ornithologie,’ a publication of
great merit and interest, issued by our German coadjutors under the superintendence of the learned orni-
thologist, M. Cabanis. The note 1s, I believe, from the pen of Dr. Gundlach, who states that the Sporadinus
Riccordi is “a very common bird on the island of Cuba, which it never leaves throughout the year. I have
found fresh-laid eggs in January, May, and September. I once found a nest that had probably served the
same bird for years ; it was, iv this case, a nest built upon an old one, and, after this operation had been
the whole structure had turned over ou one side, a new nest had been built
They nest, as I said above, almost throughout the year. The eggs
set upon for fourteen days before the young appear ; when
bright down upon the back. The very short

repeated for five or six nests,
upon it, and a second again upon this.
of each brood are two in number, white, and are
the latter come out of the eggs they are black, with some
diminutive beak, which is then rather broad than long, is whitish.”
The following note respecting this species is from the pen of M. Alcide D’Orbigny, and is to be found in
M. Ramon de la Sagra’s ‘ Histoire de Cuba,’ p. 29 :—
“Far from migrating, like the Red Humming-Bird (Zrochelus colubris), this is one of the stationary inha-
bitants of the island of Cuba, which it never leaves, and of which it is one of the most beautiful ornaments.
The inhabitants (to imitate, doubtless, the sound which it makes whilst flying) give it the name of Ln: Lain
g in its plumage and habits, its works are likewise not without merit. Artificially bull, a
silk which surrounds the seed of Asclepias anasarica, \ts nest 1s attached

often composed of wool from the : ie
like that of all the Trochilidee, it contaims only one or two eggs; from which

ak very short.”
but in form they are very similar,—the

Interestin

to the forks of young twigs ;
the young are produced, who, at their birth, have the be
colouring of the sexes of this bird,

Much difference occurs in the
f the tail.

female having the same peculiarity in the shape 0
For the loan of the fine female from which my f
ction not being eraced W

of my friend M. Bourcier of Paris, my own colle 2
on in this country.

ioure of that sex was taken, I am indebted to the liberality
. 1 Onan far as I am
ith one; neither, so far as 4 ¢

aware, is there one in any other collecti
the bronzy hue predominating on the head,
purplish brown; four
bronze on their outer
t the

male is bronzy green,
the throat and under a
purplish black, glossed with Or

ill dark brown, except a

The entire plumage of the body of the
and the green becoming very luminous on
central tail-feathers dark bronze, the remainder dark
a streak of brown
been reddish. ;
all the upper surface, Wing
tail as in the male,
ail-coverts buffy white.
the Lacepedea insig ns.

surface; wings

cee tail-coverts white, with down the centre; b
base of the under mandible, which appea
The female has the crown of the head brown ;
the neck and flanks bronzy green ; wings purplish 7
greener ; throat and centre of the abdomen pale ee
The Plate represents both sexes of the size of life.

tail-coverts, sides of
y hue somewhat

rs to have
-coverts,

1 but the bronz
yrOWN §
under t
The plant is

———
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