I T O E T M m i S T m T O l E J I o '
PHAETHORNIS YARUQUI.
Yaruquian Hermit.
T ro ch ilu s Y a r u q u i, B ou rc ., Compte Rendu de l ’Acad. des Sci., tom. x x x ii. p. 187*
T h i s fine new species o f Phaethornis is a native o f the temperate regions o f Ecuador, whence several examples
were brought to Europe by M. Bourcier; and my own collection has been enriched by some fine
specimens transmitted to me from Quito by Professor Jameson. It appears to be very common in the
neighbourhood o f the city, and particularly in the valley o f Yaruqui, in which the French Academicians in
1742 placed the point from whence they measured an arc o f the meridian, and where it dwells amidst the
small bushes skirting the forest, but appears to give a preference to the shady parts of the woods bordering
the warmer plains, where it seeks its insect food among the Orchids and other flowering plants growing in such
situations. Its flight is described as being gentle, and its disposition as very tame. Its broad and nearly uniform
steel-black tail at once distinguishes it from Phaethornis Gut/, to which it is nearly allied. Like that bird, it is
subject to considerable variation in the form o f the tail, that organ being much more lengthened in some
instances than in others; the longer tailed specimens also have the lateral feathers fringed, and the two
central ones extensively tipped with white. That the birds in this state are immature, is shown by the
brown crescentic marks on the feathers o f the back o f the head and upper surface, which are entirely absent
in those having the shorter and more rounded form o f tail, with the lateral feathers o f a uniform colour.
The central tail-feathers are always broader and much more obtusely pointed than those o f P . Guy. In
some specimens we find a deep rufous mark, commencing above and behind the eye to the nape; a second
fainter line from the gape down the side o f the neck, and a third occupying the centre o f the throat, as in
P . G u y ; but these marks do not occur in very old birds.
Head bronzy brown; upper and under surface and wing-coverts shining green; wings dark purplish
black; upper tail-coverts green, with a crescent o f black, and another o f white at the tip ; tail bjuish black;
the two central feathers tipped with white, and the next on each side with a small speck o f white at the
t ip ; under tail-coverts white, with a streak o f black near the tip o f each feather; upper and point o f the
lower mandible black; basal two thirds o f the lower mandible fleshy red; feet yellowish brown.
In the immature state, the colouring o f the upper surface is interrupted by crescentic marks o f brown ;
the central tail-feathers are more largely tipped, and the lateral ones are fringed at their ends with white :
there is a deep buffy mark above, and a paler one beneath the eye, and a small mark o f white on the chin.
The figures are o f the natural size, on the Macleania angulata.