SELASPHORUS TORRIDUS, savin.
Torrid Flame-bearer.
Selasp/iorus torridus, Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1 8 7 0 , p. 2 0 8 .— Sclater & Salvin, Nomencl. Av.
Neotr. p . 8 4 (1 8 7 3 ).— Mulsant, H is t. N a t. Oiseaux-Moucbes, iv. p. 101 (1 8 7 7 ).__
Elliot, Synopsis o f the Humming-Birds, p. 11 2 (1 8 7 8 ).
Ma. Salvin gives the characters of this Humming-bird as follows The coloration of the throat of this
species is peculiar, having a somewhat faded appearance. The tint is not brilliant red as in S. scintilla, nor
does it resemble the gorget of S. platycercus, but is altogether of a more lilac hue. However, six males,
sent by Arce, are all so exactly alike, that I cannot but suppose that the normal colour of the throat is
shown. The lateral plumes of the throat, too, are elongate, reminding one o f Atthis heloisce, and thus
render the species distinct from all Selasphori except S. scintilla, from which it differs widely in other
respects. The most nearly allied species appears to be S. flammula, Salv. (P. Z. S. 1864, p. 586), which,
however, has a differently coloured throat, as well as distinctive characters in the tail.”
The present bird has, as yet, only been met with on the volcano of Chiriqui, in Veragua.
As with the other two species o f Selasphorus, I append the diagnosis o f S. torndus, as given by
Mr. E l l i o t ;
“ Male. Upper parts dark shining grass-green. Throat shining lilac-red, silvery in certain lights.
Feathers on the side o f the neck elongated, same colour as the throat. Breast and middle o f abdomen
white. Flanks green. Under tail-coverts buffy white. Median rectrices bronze-green; lateral ones
purplish black, all except the two outer ones margined with rufous. Wings purplish brown. Maxilla black;
mandible flesh-colour, tip black. Total length 21 inches, wing I f, tail I i, culmen #.
“ Female. Head brownish; upper parts green. Underparts whitish; feathers of throat spotted with
brown. Flanks rufous. Tail black; base o f three outer feathers rufous, and tips white; next two margined
with rufous ; middle feathers green.”
SELASPHORUS HENSHAWI, muot.
Henshaw’s Flame-bearer.
Trochilus rufus, Hen sh aw, Bu ll. Nu tta ll Om. Club, ii. p. 5 4 (1 8 7 7 , nec Gm.).
Selasphorus henshawi, E llio t, Bull. Nu tta ll Orn. Club, ii. p. 1 0 2 (1 8 7 7 ).— Id. Synopsis o f the
Humm ing -B irds, p. I l l (1 8 7 8 ).
T his is a species which I failed to distinguish from the true S. rufus (Gm.) in my previous works, as also
have many other writers on Humming-birds. Mr. H. W. Henshaw, in a paper published in the ■ Bulletin ’
o f the Nuttall Ornithological Club of July 1877, pointed out that under the name of Selasphorus rufus a
distinct bird, differing in having the tail-feathers next to the centre ones pointed and notched, occurred in
California ; and he proposed to call this new form S. alleni, after Mr. C. A. Allen, of Nicasio in California.
A good account of the habits and distribution is given in Mr. Henshaw’s paper; but in the same volume
of the ‘ Bulletin ’ Mr. D. G. Elliot has shown that it is the bird with the pointed tail-feathers which is the
true S. rufus o f Gmelin, and consequently the species with the notch in the tail-feathers which requires a
new title; and this Mr. Elliot conferred on the species by naming it Selasphorus henshawi. I refer my