PMAET H0RH1S OSERYI
PHAÉTHORNIS OSERYI.
D’Osery’s Hermit.
T ro ch ilu s O s e ry i, Bourc. e t Muls. in Ann. Sci. Phy s. &c. de L yon , May 7, 1852.
A m e t r o m i s O s e ry i, R e ich . Auf. der Col., p. 1 4 .
O i'tho rn is o se ry i, Bon ap. Rev . Zool. 1 8 5 4 , p. 2 4 9 .
P /u e th om is v illo su s, Lawr. in Ann. L y c . Na t. H ist. N ew York, vol. v i. p. 2 5 9 .
W h a t could have induced the late Prince Charles Bonaparte and Dr. Reichenbach to separate this bird
generically from the genus Phaethornis I know not. Certain it is that nothing could be more fallacious, or
better calculated to bring science into contempt. No excuse can, indeed, be offered for their so doing, since I
believe that neither o f them could have personally examined the bird, but that they proposed their generic titles
from the mere descriptions o f the species : had they ever seen it, they would have compared it with ray
P . hispidus, and perhaps questioned if the two species were not one and the same ; instead of which they
have made hispidus generically distinct, under the name o f Ptyonornis,—at least, Dr. Reichenbach has done so.
It is such measures as these which give the monographer so much trouble in unravelling the confusion they
have made, and impose upon him the unpleasant task o f pointing out such gross errors. I should not have
spoken thus strongly on the subject had there been the slightest perceptible difference in form between this
bird, the P . superciliosus, P . Eurynome, and other species which these authors admit are typical Phaethorni.
For the separation o f the smaller members o f the genus under the subgeneric title o f Pygmornis proposed
by Bonaparte, and E rem ita by Reichenbach, some excuse may be made, those little birds forming a very
natural subdivision, although, as will be seen, I have retained them all under the generic name of Phaethornis.
We now come to more important points with regard to this species—the country it inhabits, and whether it
be or be not identical with P . hispidus, a name published six years prior to that of Oseryi.
The native habitat o f Osery’s Hermit is that portion o f the Andes lying between Bogota and Ecuador.
I have specimens from both these countries now lying before me,— one received in an ordinary collection
from Santa Fé, and another from Archidona through the kindness o f Professor Jameson. I am also indebted
to Mr. Lawrence o f New York for another example, which was collected by Mr. Moore in Ecuador.
Mr. Lawrence, on comparing his specimens with my Plate o f P . hispidus, came to the conclusion that they
were distinct from that species, and being unaware that the bird had been described in Europe under the
name o f Oseryi, proposed for it the specific term of villosus. I agree with Mr. Lawrence that there are sufficient
grounds for considering it distinct from the P . hispidus, that bird being o f a larger size, and having the
feathers o f the throat o f greater length and more distinctly margined with grey, while the lengthened greyish
white throat-mark seen in all my specimens o f Oseryi is wanting in hispidus. This latter species also
inhabits a different country, being, so far as we yet know, only found in the southern country of Bolivia,
where it doubtless represents the Oseryi o f more northern latitudes.
M. Bourcier has dedicated this species to the Count d’Osery, the unfortunate “ compagnon de voyage ”
o f the Count de Castelnau.
Head, upper surface and wing-coverts bronzy green, browner on the head ; ear-coverfs dark brown, bordered
above and below with a line o f greyish white ; upper tail-coverts bronzy green, with a crescentic
mark o f blackish brown near the end, and tipped with grey ; tail very dark green at the base for half its
length, and as far as this colour extends the shafts are white, except those o f the two central feathers, which
are dark ; the remainder o f the tail is brownish black, the lateral feathers narrowly edged with greyish white
on their inner webs near the end, and a broader mark of white on the edge of the outer webs, the projecting
ends o f the central feathers gradually fading into white ; throat and breast ashy brown, intermixed with greyish
white, presenting a rough shaggy appearance ; there is also a white line running down the centre o f the
throat to the breast ; abdomen greyish white ; under tail-coverts ashy brown with grey margins ; wings
purplish brown ; upper mandible and point o f the lower mandible black, the basal portion o f the latter
yellow ; irides black ; feet yellowish.
The figures are o f the size o f life. The plant is the Anguloa uniflora.