flgure of it iu his great work on the “ Birds of North America/’ taken from a specimen said to have
been killed in Florida; but I have never yet received exampies of the bird from any locality approxi
mating to the northern regions of America, nor from any district to the northward of Costa Rica:
on the other hand, it is very generally dispersed over the Southern continent for many degrees of latitude
along the Andes. I possess exampies from Bogota, Guayaquil, Peru, the Caraccas, the Guianas, the Delta
of the Amazon, aud all parts of Brazil, as far south as the latitude of Rio de Janeiro, in all of which
countries it is to he found wherever localities suited to its habits occur. Slight differences of colouring are
obserrable in exampies from very distant localities, but none of sufficiënt importance to warrant their being
characterized as distinct. The specimens which exhibit the greatest difference are those from Guayaquil,
some of those I possess having the black of the throat washed with a somewhat glittering blue. The great
variation which occurs between the colouring of the sexes and the youthful birds at different ages has occa-
sioned an amount of confusion with regard to the synonymy of this species, which it is almost impossible to
unravel, and in the investigation of which I have received much valuable assistance from M. Bourcier, of
Paris, who has kindly sent me a list of all the synonyms which, in his opinion, are referable to this species,
and which, with a few others, are given above. I am also indebted to this gentleman for the following
uote respecting the range of the bird, &c.
“ This Humming Bird, though one of the most widely spread members of its femily, is only to be met
with in hot localities, and wherever it occurs in the interior of a country it is invariably in the very warm
valleys. In its disposition it is wild and quarrelsome; for although it lives in societies, several being always
found together, it is continually engaged in fighting with its companions, and in driving away qfl other birds
which approach the tree in which it is breeding. It inhabits Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, New Grenada,
La Trinite, Guiana, and Brazil, The adult does not assume its perfect plumage until the end of the
second year, and in the interval passes through so many changes of plumage, that the variety of appearance
it presents has given rise to the various names under which the bird has been described.
“ I have obtained exampies of this species in the province of Manabi, and have killed many in the vicinity
of Guayaquil during the rainy season, when I always found there were four or live young birds for every
old one. Although this species occurs in such distant localities, there is no great variation in the plumage
of the adults. Those obtained in Bolivia are a trifle the largest, and have the bands of green and blue at
the sides of the neck a little less briliiant; iu ftct, the hotter the climate in which the bird dwells, the more
brilliant is its general appearance; the black of the throat is more intense, the green of the back and rump
is finer, and the violet of the tail more lustrous. Its flight is very rapid.”
Mr. Reeves informs me that in Brazil the Lampomis Mango is to be found in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Geraes,
St. Paul’s, Santa Catherina, and Para; that it frequents the gardens as well as the forests, and is very
common at Rio in some seasons, and equally scarce at others.
The nest is a round cup-shaped structure, placed near the extremity of a small horizontal branch, and is
composed of cottony or any similar materials that may be at hand, bound together with cobwebs and orna-
mented with numerous small pieces of lichens: the eggs as usual are white and two in number, somewhat
more than half an inch long, by three-eighths of an inch in breadth.
The adult male has the head, all the upper surface, wing- and tail-coverts, and flanks golden or coppery-
green; wings purplish-brown; two centre tail-feathers bronzy-green; lateral tail-feathers chestnut with
violet reflexions, aud narrowly margined with dark steel-blue; under surface velvety-black, separated from
the golden-green ol the upper surface by a band of shining blue, which extends from the corner of the
mouth down each side of the neck and breast; under tail-coverts violet-brown in some specimens, glossy-
green in others; bill and feet black.
The female has the head, upper surface, wing- and tail-coverts, and flanks as in the male; breast and
abdomen white, with a broad stripe of black down the centre of the throat, and a similar mark down the
centre of the abdomen; in some specimens these marks unite, and form a broad black mark down the
iniddle of the under surface; under tail-coverts green fringed with grey; two centre tail-feathers bronzy-
green ; the next on each side bronzy-green, deepening into black at the extremity, and slightly fringed with
M m tlp ! thC H °n each side similar' but wi,h an obscure mark of chestnut between the green
and the black; the two outer feathers bronzy-green at the base, then chestnut with Violet reflexions, black
towards the extremity and slightly tipped with white.
The young male is similar to the female, but has the white on each side the neck suflused with chestnut.
At a very young age the upper surface is bronzy-green ; the under surface white, spotted down the sides
of the neck and body with chestnut-red, the spots being arranged in a doublé line from the angle of the
lower mandible, and leaving a line of white running between them and the eye.
The Plate represents a male, a female, a young bird, and a nest, all of the natural size. The plant is the
oolanum fragrans.