PHAETHORNIS SUPERCILIOSUS.

Cayenne Hermit.

Trochilus supercilosus, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p- 189.—Ib. Gmel. Edit., tom. i. p. 485.—
Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 284.—Vieill. Eney. Méth. Orn., part ii. p. 549.
pl. 129. fig. 2—Dumont, Dict. Sci. Nat., tom. x. p. 46.—Drapiez, Dict. Class.
d’ Hist. Nat., tom. iv. p- 317.—Less. Hist. Nat. des Col., p. 395. pl. 6.—Ib. Ind.
Gen. et Syn. des Ois. du Gen. Trochilus, p. xiv.—Ib. Traité d’Orn., p. 288.—
Jard. Nat. Lib., Humming-birds, vol. ii. p. 119. pls. 26, 27.—Steph. Cont. of
Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xiv. p. 241.—Prince Max. Beit. zur Naturg. von Bras.,
pe EEO.

Polytmus Cayennensis longicaudus, Briss. Orn., tom. iii. p. 686. pl. xxxv. fig. 5.

Le Brin blanc, Buff. Hist. Nat. des Ois., tom. vi. p- 46.—Vieill. Ois. Dor., pp. 37, 38, 39.
pis. 17, 18, 19.

Colibri a longue queue de Cayenne, Buff. Pl. Enl. 600. fig. 3.

Phetornis superciliosus, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 104, Phetornis, sp. 1.—Bonap.
Rey. et Mag. de Zool. 1854, p. 249.

Phaétornis superciliosus, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 67, Phaétornis, sp. 1.

Phaéthorms supercilosus, Reichenb. Aufz. der Colibris, p. 14.

Supercilious Humming-bird, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. i. p. 747.—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii.
p. 234.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 293.

 

Lesson has given a tolerably good figure of this species in the fourth plate of his ‘Histoire Naturelle des
Colibris,” while the figure in the next plate, which he states to be the female, has reference not only to
another species, but to one pertaining to a distinct form, to which the generic appellation of G/aucis has been
given: it represents, in fact, either the young of G@. Airsutus or G. Mazeppa, as is shown by the concentric
marks on the back, and the pointed white tips of the tail-feathers. It is surprising that Lesson should
have thus erred, for had he studied the members of the genus Phaéthornis even but superficially, he must
have observed that no difference occurs in the colouring of the sexes, and that the young assume the livery
and the same form of tail as the adults from the earliest age.

The Phaéthornis superciliosus appears to have been known to Linnzus and most of the older writers. It
is one of the commonest species of the genus, examples having been sent to Europe for at least the last
hundred years. Its native countries are Guiana, Cayenne, and Surinam; its range is known to extend
towards Brazil as far as the confluence of the Amazon, but, I believe, does not advance farther south than
Bahia, which Mr. Reeves informs me is one of the provinces in which it is found. It is believed that the
sexes differ little in colour, but that in size the female is a trifle smaller than her mate.

The term superciliosus applied to this species is by no means an appropriate or distinctive appellation, all

the species of the genus being similarly marked; but a name once applied cannot be changed.

Head, upper surface and wing-coverts bronzy brown, darkest on the head; lores and ear-coverts blackish
brown, bounded above and below by stripes of buff; wings dark purplish brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts
barred with bronze and brown; lateral tail-feathers bronzy green at the base, the apical portion blackish
brown, with an arrow-head-shaped mark of buff at the tip ;
blackish brown for the setond third of their length, the prolonged or apical third white, gradually blending

with the dark hue of the middle portion ; under surface dusky fawn-colour, clouded with dark brown
approaching to black on the throat ; under tail-coverts buff; upper

of the under mandible fleshy red, the tip black.
The figures are of the size of life. The plant is the Astrocaryum rostratum.

two centre tail-feathers bronzy green at the base,

mandible black ; the basal three-fourths