i
PHAETHORNIS FRATKRCUXiTJS, Gould
PHAÉTHORNIS FRATERCULUS, Goma.
Allied Hermit.
I n figuring this bird in the present monograph, I do not insist that it is a new species, or that it is by any means
rare; on the contrary, scarcely a single collection arrives from Cayenne and the neighbouring countries
which does not comprise examples of it. Still I cannot find that it has beeu described; and that it has
not been is also the opinion of M. Bourcier, of Paris; and the only question in our minds is whether it
can possibly be the female, or one or other sex o f the P . malaris (P . superciliosus o f this work). If this
should ultimately prove to be the case, a similar disparity in the size of the sexes does not occur in any
other species. Having said thus much, I leave the investigation o f the subject to those ornithologists who
may hereafter write on the subject, or to those who may have opportunities for observing the bird in a
state o f nature.
I ought to mention that, besides the great difference in size, the P . fraterculus differs in having a
somewhat more curved bill than P . malaris.
Crown of the head greyish brown; upper surface and wing-coverts bronzy green; lower part of the
back and upper tail-coverts paler and with a crescent o f deep brown near the tip of each feather; above
and below the eye a stripe o f yellowish buff; the interspace, or ear-coverts and lores, brownish black ; wings
purplish brown; throat grey with a stripe o f light buff down the centre; the under surface clouded in
some specimens with g rey; sides o f the neck and under tail-coverts pale huffy white ; tail-feathers glaucous
green at the base, brownish black in the middle and tipped with an arrow-head-shaped mark of white;
the apical half o f the two middle feathers white; upper mandible and tip of the under mandible black, the
remaining portion o f the latter being yellowish or flesh-colour; feet yellowish brown.
The figures are of the size o f life. The plant is the Angrcecum funale.