n m m i i i E s b u c u b j s .
UU/mmuM* M f /mp
THRENETES LEUCURUS.
White-tailed Barbed-throat.
T ro ch iln s leu cu ru s, Linn. Syst. N a t., vol. i. p. 190.— lb . Gmel. E d it., vol. i. p. 487-— Lath.
Ind. Orn ., vol. i. p. 307-— Less. Hist. N a t. des Col., p. 8 3 . pi. 22.— Vie ill. Ency.
M6th. Orn., P a r t II. p. 5 5 3 . pi. 1 29. fig. 5 .— Dumon t, D ie t, des Sci, Na t., tom. x.
p . 5 2 .— Drap ie z , D ie t. Class. d’H ist. N a t., tom. iv. p. 317-
P o l y tm u s S u r in am e n s is, Briss. Orn ., vol. iii. p . 6 7 4 .— Id . 8 vo, vol. ii. p. 22.
C o lib r i a C o llie r r o u g e , Buff. Hist, d es Ois., tom. vi. p. 5 9 .— lb . PI. En l. 6 00. fig. 4.— Vieill.
Ois. dor., tom. i, p . 128.
W h it e - ta il e d H u m m in g -B i r d , Lath. Gen. S yn ., vol. ii. p. 7 5 7 -— E dw ., pi. 2 56. fig. 2.— Shaw,
Gen. Z o o l., vol. viii. p. 293-— Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 308.
R ii f o u s - th r o a te d H u m m in g -B i r d , Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 3 08.
P o l y tm u s leu cu ru s , Gray and Mitch. Gen. o f B irds, vol. i. p. 108, P o l y tm u s , sp. 21.
G la u c is leu cu ru s, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 6 7) G la u c is , sp. 2.
T h a t the present species was known to Linnaeus, and to most o f the writers on Natural History who lived
prior to that great Naturalist, is quite certain; yet at the present day how few are the examples o f it to be
met with in the collections o f Europe ! It is undoubtedly a native o f Surinam and the neighbouring continental
states; and it is very surprising that so ornamental and well-marked a .species should not have more
frequently attracted the collector’s notice, and been sent home in abundance. Judging from the specimens
I have had opportunities o f examining, there would appear to be little difference in the colouring o f the
sexes. In its form and structure, this species offers, in my opinion, considerable affinity to the members of
the genus Glaucis, which also tenant the same regions, and display very similar habits.
M. Bourcier tells me that it has also been sent from British Guiana, but that it rarely occurs in collections
from Cayenne.
Head, all the upper surface, upper wing-coverts, two central tail-feathers, sides o f the neck, breast and
flanks, shining' olive-green; wings purplish brown; lateral tail-feathers white, stained on the apical half of
the outer margin and the tip o f the outer feather with dark brown; a crescent o f the same, but o f a much
paler hue at the tip o f the next; a still fainter mark o f the same colour near the tip of the external web of
the third, and a nearly obsolete mark o f a similar tint in the same situation on the fourth; lores and ear-
coverts brown; on the chin and throat a lengthened triangular mark o f black, bounded on either side by a
narrow line o f greyish white, and below by a broad band o f deep sandy buff crossing the throat; centre
o f the abdomen greyish buff; under tail-coverts olive, narrowly edged with greyish buff; bill black,
with the cutting o f the upper mandible and the basal three-fourths o f the under one pearly white; feet
yellow.
The figures are o f the natural size.