774 H UMMI N G - B I R D .
BLACK
H. B.
D escription,
P lace an®
O b s e r v a t io n s .
TrocMlus nigcr, Lin. Syß, i. p* 193» N® 17«
L ’Oifeau-mouche de $t. Domingue, Brif. om. iii. p. 702. N° 5. t, $6. f. Ä.
T ENGTH two inches and a quarter. Bill five lines and a half,
and black: the head, and from thence to the tail, above, the
parts are brownifh black with a copper glofs *. fides and thighs
grey brown, gloffed with the fame: the throat, fore part of the
neck, breaft, and belly, whitifh grey: on the throat are feme
minute brown fpecks : under tail coverts white quills as ufual.
tail ft eel black : legs covered to the toes with grey brown feathers
: toes and claws black.
Inhabits St. Domingo. Brijfon doubts whether this is not the
female of the laft : Buff on * joins him in opinion j and further observes,
that the laft: but one may be taken in alfo j the only difference
in that and the two laft, is in its being bigger : Notwith-
ftanding this, Linnans will have this laft a diftindt fpecies ; and,
as I can by no means decide the matter, muft leave it to the future
obfervations of others : I will only make one remark on the
almoft impoflibility of determining thefe things, without a long
refidence on the fpot where they breed, fince I am credibly informed,
that they do not gain their true plumage for the firft,
nor even the fecond year; and, in this intermediate ttate, muft
deceive, and perhaps ftrangely multiply the fpecies. This cafe
we know is manifeft in many other birds, which we are now
thoroughly acquainted with, and had led ornithologifts into many
miftakes, till their nature and manners were fully known f .
* Hiß. des oif. vi. p. 3Ö.
f M. Bajon remarks, that ‘Creepers, Humming-birds, and many other {mail
fpecies, are lefs lively when young, and of different colours; fo as to be miflakea
for different fpecies. Mem. fur Cayenne, vol. ii> p. 255%
6
T
H U M M I N G - B I R D .
Le Saphir, Buf. oif. vi. p. 26.
•HIS is fomewhat above the common fize of the birds of this
genus. The bill is white, with a black tip : the fore part
o f the neck and breaft are of a rich fapphire blue, with a glofs
of v iolet: the throat rufous: the body, both above and beneath,
of a deep green gold: the lower part of the belly white: under
tail coverts rufous : the upper ones of a bright gilded brown:
tail of a gilded rufous colour, bordered with brown : wings brown.
A BIRD nearly allied to this had only the breaft iapphire-co-
loured; the reft of the body being of a very bright glofly
green : the belly white: and the bill the fame as the firft: but the
bird not quite fo b ig : the tail rather rounded at the end,, and
of a glofly blue black colour.
This laft came from Guiana *, and is probably a variety.
Le Saphir-émeraude, Buf. oif. vi. p. 26.
Colibri N-° 2, Form. Befcrip. tie Surinam, vol, ii. p. ipr r
Lev. Muf.
T HIS fpecies is about the middle fize. It is made up of the
two colours expreffed in the title, viz. the fapphire and the
emerald; both colours perfedtly vivid and glofly; the firft occupying
the head and throat,, and blending itfelf with the fecond,
which covers the breaft, ftomach, round the neck, and the' back,
77 S
39-
SAPPHIRE
H. B.
D escription.
39*
V ar. A .
D escription*
Place*
SAPPHIRE AND*
EMERALD
H. B.
I ■ D escription* ; ,1 M l!
Hiß. des oif. yi, p. 27.
doffed
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