Hummingbirds

Description

Drawing depicting: Hummingbirds, The first of a group of three copies of a colored lithograph on tissue showing 5 hummingbirds: two images have been taken from the published plates of Loddigesia mirabilis and Spathura peruana; 2 unidentified images of scissor-tailed hummingbirds, are similar to Cometes phaon and a Lesbia sp., and a rounded-fan-tailed hummingbird closely resembles Oreotrochilus chimborazo. All the birds are painted appropriately to the firm and suggested identifications given here. The print was clearly prepared for experiments in the representation of iridescence. Gold-colored metallic paint has been applied to the reverse of the tail of one of the birds in the present plate. Also on the sheet is a sketch of the body and tail of an unidentified bird; possibly one of the hummingbirds, but at a scale of ca. 250%. Gould 2152 was previously cited as Gould 2: 3 in a system no longer in use in the Spencer Library.