ERIOCNEMIS ISAACSON!.
Long-billed Puff-leg.
Ornysmia Isaacsonii, Parz. Rev. Zool. 1845, p. 95.
Hylochai'is Isaacsoni, Gray and Mitch. Gen. o f Birds, vol. i. p. 114, Hylocham, sp. 9.
Eriopus isaacsoni, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 80, Eriopus, sp. 9.
Enocnemys isaacsoni, Bonap. Rev. e t Mag. de Zool. 1854, p. 252.
Pliemonoe Isaacsoni, Reichenb. Aufz. der Colibris, p. 9.
Up to the present time only a single example of this species has reached Europe. The specimen referred to
was received by M. Parzudaki of Paris in a large collection of birds from Santa Fe de Bogota, in examining
which, it did not escape the discriminating eye of that well-known naturalist. It subsequently passed into
the hands of the late Earl of Derby, and now forms part of the great Collection at Liverpool. It received
its specific appellation from M. Parzudaki, and I quite agree with him in considering it distinct from every
other known member of the genus. Its nearest ally is the E . cupreiventris, from which, however, it differs
in its much longer bill, in the more coppery hue of its upper surface, and in the green colouring of its
under tail-coverts. Although received direct from Bogota, that locality is doubtless not its true habitat, for
if it were, we should certainly have received other examples during the thirteen years which have elapsed
since it was first characterized.
My thanks are due to the Trustees of the Derby Museum, for the loan of their unique specimen for the
purpose of examination, and permission to figure it in the present work.
Head and back dull greenish bronze; upper tail-coverts purplish; throat shining green, passing into rich
golden bronze on the sides of the neck, abdomen and flanks; wings purplish brown ; tail brownish black;
under tail-coverts shining green; thighs clothed with white down-like feathers.
The figures are of the natural size.