LEUCIPPUS FALLAX.
Buff-breasted Leucippus.
Trochilus fallax, Bourc. Rev. Zool. 1843, p. 103.—Ib. Ann. de la Soc. Sci. de Lyons, 1843,
p. 44.
Trochilus (Lampomis ?) fulviventiis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xiv. p. 88.
Polytmus fallax, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 108, Polytmus, sp. 55.
Leucippus fa lla x , Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 73, Leucippus, sp. 1.—Reichenb. Aufz. der Coli-
bris, p. 11.—Ib. Troch. enumer., p. 8. pl. d c c l x x x i i i . figs. 4820, 4821.
Doleromyia fallax, Bonap. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1854, p. 249.
T her e is but little in this species to attract attention, nevertheless to the Trochilidist it is not destitute
of interest. The uniformity of the buffy hue of its under surface is a feature rarely occurring among
Humming Birds.
The Leucippus fallax may be considered rare, since but few specimens are to be found either in the
collections of England or in those of the Continent. For those contained in my own I am indebted to
Mr. Dyson, who procured them in Venezuela. They offer no difference whatever either in size or colouring,
and in all probability it will be found that there is no outward distinction between the sexes, and that the
adult livery is assumed at a very early age; for among the specimens I possess is a half-fledged nestling,
which has already acquired the plumage of the adult.
Head olive-brown tinged with green ; upper surface and wing-coverts green; wings dark purplish-brown;
four centre tail-feathers bronzy-green; lateral feathers bronzy-green at the base, passing into black and
largely tipped with white, the white increasing in extent as the feathers recede from the centre; throat, breast
and abdomen deep buff; under tail-coverts white; upper mandible, and point of the lower, black; remainder
of the under mandible either pale yellow or flesh-colour.
The figures are of the natural size. The plant is the Dictyanthus Paconii.