THREE; ETES CERVINICAUDA 9 Gould.
THRENETES CERVINICAUDA, Gould.
Fawn-tailed Barbed-throat.
T h r en e te s c e r v in ic a u d a , Gould in Proc. o f Zool. Soc., part xxii. p. 1 09.
How constantly are we receiving novelties from the richly wooded districts bordering the River Napo, and
how many fine birds appear to inhabit this luxuriant region!—a zone, as it were, intermediate between the
elevated portions o f the great Andean ranges and the flat lands o f the eastern parts o f South America.
The present highly interesting bird is from this district. Of the three examples contained in my collection,
two are tolerably perfect, the third is minus the ta il; still they afford me sufficient materials to enable me to
give a correct delineation o f the species.
Every ornithologist who has paid attention to the Trochilidce will see that this new bird is very closely
allied to the Threnetes leitcurus, but that it differs in its much larger size, in the colouring of the tail, and
in the rich hue o f its throat-mark.
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 deep fawn-colour, stained on the
apical half o f 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 o f the
external web o f 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 of black,
bounded on either side by a narrow line of 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 edge 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 size o f life. The plant is the Echites Franciscea, var.Jloribns sulphureis.