CYANOMYIA CYANOCEPHALA.
Black-billed Azure-crown.
Ornwniya cyanocephala, Less. Supp. des Ois. Mou., p. 134. pi. 18.
So great is the confusion which exists respecting the synonymy and species of this form, that I might be
held excused were I to give new specific appellations to at least two of them, namely the one here represented,
and the one I have figured as Cyanomyia quadricolor; the case is very different with the C. Francice
of M. Bourcier and the C. cyanicollis of myself, as the types of both of these are in existence and well known.
Lesson states that the quadricolor and the cyanocephala both inhabit Brazil; but the truth is, that the form
does not exist in that country. The present bird, for which I retain the name of cyanocephala, rather than
add another to the already too numerous synonyms of the group, like the quadricolor, is a native of Mexico
and Guatemala: it is found rather abundantly in the neighbourhood of Orizaba, whence numerous examples
have been sent to England by M. Botta, none of which offer the slightest difference from those collected in
the more southern regions of Guatemala by M. Rivera Paz, and sent to me direct by Mr. Skinner.
The Cyanomyia cyanocephala is not so finely coloured as the Bogota species, C. Francice, the only one with
which it could be confounded.
The only external difference observable in the sexes consists in the blue crown being nearly obsolete in
the female.
Crown of the head and occiput shining greenish-blue; all the upper surface, wing-coverts, and flanks
bronzy-green; wings purplish-brown ; tail greenish-bronze ; throat and centre of the abdomen white; under
tail-coverts greyish-olive, fringed with white ; sides of the neck green, but less brilliant than in C. Francice;
bill black.
The figures are of the natural size. The plant is the Habrothamnusfasciculatus.