DOCIMASTES ENSIFERUS.
Sword-bill.
Ornismya ensifera, Boiss. Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 354.— M ag .d e Zool. 1840, O is.p l. 15.—Lodd.
in P ro c. o f Zool. Soc., P a r t X I . 1843, p . 122.
Trochilus Derbianus, Fras. in Proc. o f Zool. Soc., P a r t V III. 1840, p. 16.
Mellisuga ensifera, Gray an d Mitch. Gen. of Birds, Mellisuga, sp. 1.
T his is another of the new and very remarkable species that have rewarded the researches of modern
naturalists in the magnificent region of Santa Fe de Bogota, where most of the specimens sent to Europe
have been procured ; it appears, however, to possess a wide range, for I have heard of its being observed in
the Caraccas, and my friend Sir William Jardine, Bart., has lately received from Mr. Jameson an example
obtained in the shrubby region ou Pichinchain Quito, at an elevation of from 11,000 to 12,000 feet above
the sea.
Mr. Hartweg, the celebrated botanical traveller, informs me that he has seen this bird in a state of
nature, and that he frequently saw it engaged in procuring its insect food from the lengthened corollas of
the Brugmansice, for exploring which its lengthened bill is so admirably fitted ; affording another instance
of the wonderful adaptation of structure to a given purpose so frequently observable in every department
of Nature’s works.
The male has all the upper surface and the wing-coverts bronzy green, assuming a coppery hue on the
head; behind the eye a spot of white; throat blackish brown ; on either side of the throat a broad crescentic
band of shining emerald green; under surface bronzy green ; under tail-coverts bronzy green, fading into
white on the edges of the feathers; wings purplish brown; tail dark brown with a bronzy lustre; bill
blackish brown ; feet yellowish brown.
Total length, 8f- inches; bill, 4 ; wing, 3 ; tail, 2^-; tarsus, -f.
The female has the upper surface as in the male, except that a few white feathers appear on' the lower
part of the back; a line of white is also perceptible behind the eye; wings purplish brown ; tail olive-
green ; throat brown, each feather margined with gray; under surface bronzy green, mottled with brown,
and an indication of the bright bands on either side of the throat.
Total length, 6 r inches ; bill, 3 ; wing, 3 ; tail, 2-$-; tarsus,
The upper surface of the young male is of a more coppery hue than that of the adult ; the throat is
mottled brown and white, produced by each feather having an oblong spot of brown at the tip; on either
side of the throat a band of lustrous green with bronzy reflexions, amidst which the white bases of the
feathers here and there appear; under surface coppery green, interrupted in like manner by the white
bases of the feathers ; under tail-coverts green, slightly margined with white.
Much variation is found in the length of the bill in different individuals ; I have remarked too that the
young males of the year have longer bills than the adults; one of the former in my own collection measures
four inches and three-eighths from the gape to the tip. , 0 >
The figures represent an adult male and female, and a young male, all of the natural size, on the Scarlet
Trumpet Flower (Brugmansia sanguined).