CAMPYLOPTERUS LATIPENNIS.
Broad-shafted Sabre-wing*.
Trochilus campylopterus, Ginel. Linn. Syst. Na t., tom. i. p . 499.—'Valenc. Dict. Sci. Na t., tom. xxxv. p. 492.—Drap.
Die. Class. Sci. N a t., tom. iv. p. 325.
------------ cimreus, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Na t., tom. i. p. 490.
-------------largipennis, Bodd.
— latipennis, L a th . In d . Orn., vol. i. p. 310.—Vieill. N ouv. Dict. d’H ist. Na t., tom. vii. p. 365.—Swains. Zool.
111. vol. iii. pis. 130,131.—Ja rd . N a t. Lib. Hum.-Birds, vol. i. p. 146.—Vieill. e t Bonn. Ency. Méth.Om.,
2me p a rtie , p . 566.
VOiseau-mouche è larges tuyaux, Buff. H is t.N a t. des Ois., tom. vi. p.35.—Aud. e t Vieill. O is.dor., tom. i. p. 51, pl. 21-
L ’ Oiseau-mouche è larges tuyaux de Cayenne, Buff. Pl. Enl. 672. fig. 2.
Polytmus largipennis, Gray and Mitch. Gen. o f B irds, vol. i. p. 107, Polytmus, sp. 1.
Broad-shafted Humming-Bird, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. ii. p . 765.—ld . Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 321.
Omismya latipennis, Less. H is t. N a t. des Ois. Mou. p. 121, pl. 34.—Id . Tab. des Esp. des Ois. Mou., p. xlii.
Campylopterus latipennis, Swains. Zool. Jo u rn . vol. iii. p. 358.—Ja rd . Na t. Lib. Hum.-Birds, vol. i. pl. 34.—Bonap.
Consp. Gen. Av., p . 71, Campylopterus, sp. 1.—Less. Ind. Gen. e t Syn. des Ois. du gen. Trochilus, p. v.
—Reichenb. Auf. d e r Col., p . 11.—Bonap. Rev. e t Mag. de Zool., 1854, p. 250.
Trochilus cinereus, L a th . In d . Orn., vol. i. p. 308.
Colïbri è ventre cendre, Aud. e t Vieill. Ois. dor., tom. i. p. 18. pl. 5.
Ash-lellied Humming-Bird, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. ii. p . 759.—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 297.—Lath. Gen. Hist.,
vol. iv. p. 316.
Le Colïbri è ventre cendré, Aud. e t Vieill. Ois. dor., tom. i. p. 18, p l. 5 ?
T h e Campylopterus latipennis is one of the very earliest-known species of Humming-Bird; a glance at the
long list of names by which it has been described in the works of Linnseus, Boddaert, Gmelin, Latham,
Buffon, &c., will at once induce the reader to come to such a conclusion. Long known, however, as the
species has been, no reliable information has been transmitted to us as to its habits and economy, or the
specific purpose for which the broad shafts of the wings have been designed. They doubtless aid the bird
in cleaving the air with great rapidity, but they perhaps have some other especial use, though what that
may be cannot be easily imagined, since they do not occur in the females, and are only to be found in the
very old males. If we wish to see this bird in a state of nature, a journey to Cayenne and French Guiana
will enable us to attain the object of our desire, as it is in those countries, particularly Cayenne, that
the specimens sent to Europe are collected. Of these the greater part are of course sent to Paris, whénce
they find their way to this country.
I believe I have still another species of this form from Ecuador, intermediate between C. latipennis and
C. obscurus; but of this more at some other time, when additional specimens have arrived; at present I have
only seen the one which graces my collection. This bird is certainly not the female of either of the above-
mentioned species; it has longer wings than either of them, and, moreover, differs in the extent of the
white tipping of the outer tail-feathers.
Of the three or four known species of grey-breasted Campylopteri, the present has by far the greatest
amount of white at the tips of the lateral tail-feathers.
I believe that no difference exists in the colouring of the sexes of the Campylopterus latipennis, and that
the dilated shafts of the outer wing-feathers is the only tangible character by which the sexes can be
distinguished.
Modern research has discovered that the earliest specific appellation assigned to this bird is that of
largipennis, given to it by Boddaert; by that name, however, it is known to but few, while that of latipennis
is just as familiar. I have therefore in this instance deviated from the law of priority, and adopted the
term which is most generally applied to it.
Head, all the upper surface, wing- and tail-coverts, sides of the neck, and flanks deep oil-green; wings
dark purplish brown ; two centre tail-feathers dark green; the next on each side black, washed with green
at the base, and slightly tipped with whitish; the remainder black, largely tipped with white; all the under
surface dark grey; bill black.
The figures are of the natural size. The plant is the Odontoglossum hastilabium, var.fuscatum.