ficure of it in his great work on the “ Birds of North America,” taken from a specimen said to haye
cen ki : . Fl a - but I have never yet received examples of the bird from any locality approxi-
eae oer en recions of America, nor from any district fo the northward of Costa Rica :

ating to sate a nerally dispersed over the southern continent for many degrees of latitude
a oe es : pe Oi es from Bogota, Guayaquil, Peru, the Caraccas, the Guianas, the Delta
a Sees Al nake Le Si as far south as the latitude of Rio de Janeiro, in all of which
ae : is e be-found wherever localities suited to its habits cn olga differences of colouring are
observable in examples from very distant localities, but De of suilioient imporigne to warrant their being
characterized as distinct. The specimens which exhibit the greatest difference AUS thoes from Guayaquil,
some of those I possess having the black of the throat washed with a oe glittering blue. The great
variation which occurs between the colouring of the sexes and cS youthful backs a) different ages Nas occa-
sioned an amount of confusion with regard to the synonymy of this species, which it is almost impossiilé to
unravel, and in the investigation of which I have received ee valhieib< assisianee from M. Bourcier, of
Paris, who has kindly sent me a list of all the synonyms which, in his opinion, are referable to this species,

-and which, with a few others, are given above. I am also indebted to this gentleman for the following

note respecting the range of the bird, &c. :— : a

“This Humming Bird, though one of the most widely spread members of its family, . only to be met
with in hot localities, and wherever it occurs in the interior of a country it is invariably in the very warm
valleys. In its disposition it is wild and quarrelsome ; for although i lives in societies, several being always
found together, it is continually engaged in fighting with its companions, and in driving away all other birds
which approach the tree in which it is breeding. It inhabits Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, New Grenada,
La Trinité, Guiana, and Brazil. The adult does not assume its perfect plumage until the end of the
second year, and in the interval passes through so many changes of plumage, that the variety of appearance
it presents has given rise to the various names under which the bird has been described.

‘T have obtained examples of this species in the province of Manabi, and have killed many in the vicinity
of Guayaquil during the rainy season, when I always found there were four or five young birds for every
old one. Although this species occurs in such distant localities, there is no great variation in the plumage
of the adults. Those obtained in Bolivia are a trifle the largest, and have the bands of green and blue at
the sides of the neck a little less brilliant ; in fact, the hotter the climate in which the bird dwells, the more
brilliant is its general appearance ; the black of the throat is more intense, the green of the back and rump
is finer, and the violet of the tail more lustrous. Its flight is very rapid.”

Mr. Reeves informs me that in Brazil the Lampornis Mango is to be found in Rio de J aneiro, Minas Geraes,
St. Paul’s, Santa Catharina, and Para; that it frequents the gardens as well as the forests, and is very
common at Rio in some seasons, and equally scarce at others.

The nest is a round cup-shaped structure, placed near the extremity of a small horizontal branch, and is
composed of cottony or any similar materials that may be at hand, bound together with cobwebs and orna-

mented with numerous small pieces of lichens: the eggs as usual are white and two in number, somewhat

more than half an inch long, by three-eighths of an inch in breadth.

The adult male has the head, all the upper surface, wing- and _tail-coverts, and flanks golden or coppery

green; wings purplish brown; two centre tail-feathers bronzy green ; lateral tail-feathers chestnut with
violet reflexions, and narrowly margined with dark steel-blue ; under surface velvety black, separated from

the golden green of the upper surface by a band of shining blue, which extends from the corner of the
mouth down each side of the neck aud breast ;

green in others; bill and feet black.
The female has the head, upper sur
abdomen white, with a broad

under tail-coverts violet-brown in some specimens, glossy

face, wing- and tail-coverts, and flanks as in the male; breast and
stripe of black down the centre of the throat, and a similar mark down the
centre of the abdomen ; in some Specimens these marks unite, and form a broad black mark down the
middle of the under surface ; under tail-coverts green fringed with grey; two centre tail-feathers bronzy
green ; the next on each side bronzy green, deepening into black at the extremity and slightly fringed with
white at the tip; the next on each side similar, but with an obscure mark of chestnut between the green

and the black ; the two outer feathers bronzy green at the base, then chestnut with violet reflexions, black
towards the extremity and slightly tipped with white.

The young male is similar to the fem

ale, but has the white on each side the neck suffused with chestnut.
Ata very young age the upper sur

ee face is bronzy green 3; the under surface white, spotted down the sides
of the neck and body with chestnyt.y oe e : :
: He fs Be estnut red, the spots being arr anged in a double line from the angle of the
ower mandible, an ying keer acs
“ea eaving a line of white running between them and the eye.

The Plate repre Sic i i
€ Plate represents a m bird, and a nest, all of the natural size. The plant is the

ale, a female, a young
Solanum fragrans. ;