Mr. Fraser collected at Babahoyo, in Ecuador, specimens of a bird which both Dr. Sclater and myself considered to be identical with the Glaucis Ruckeri, but which, on a more minute comparison with specimens from Veragua, I find to be sufficiently different to entitle it to be regarded as distinct; I have therefore named it after its discoverer, as a just tribute to one who has played a good part in the furtherance of science. The G. Fraseri differs from G. Ruckeri in being rather larger in size, in having a smaller amount of rusty red on the chest, and in having a decidedly grey breast; in other respects the two birds are similar.
The foregoing paragraph appears in the Introduction, and I really have nothing to add to it respecting the history of this bird. In favour of its being distinct, I may remark that it is quite an exceptional case for a species to range over so many degrees of latitude as those between the country frequented by the G. Ruckeri and that of which the present bird isa native. Whether the G. Ruckeri and G. Fraseri will prove to be local varieties of one and the same species, time and a more intimate knowledge of the Trochilidæ inhabiting the western coast of America can alone determine; for the present they should, in my opinion, be regarded as two different species. Whether any variation occurs in the outward appearance of the sexes is entirely unknown; in all probability they will be precisely similar in the colouring of their plumage.
Mr. Fraser states that this species was “found on the edge of the virgin forest; always solitary; generally in dark and lonely places, and very restless.”
All the upper surface and wing-coverts green, inclining to bronzy brown on the head; wings deep purplish brown; two centre tail-feathers green, deepening into black and tipped with white; the remainder white at the base and at the tip, the intermediate space being occupied by a broad zone of black; an obscure line of buffy white descends from the base of the bill; on each side behind the eye a greyish-white spot; throat blackish brown, succeeded by a spot of dull rusty red; breast and flanks deep olive-green mingled with grey; abdomen grey; under tail-coverts lustrous olive-green, some of them margined with buff; upper mandible black; lower mandible yellow, with a dark tip; legs and feet flesh-colour; irides hazel.
The figures are of the size of life. The plant is the Cattleya maxima.
Featuring all 422 illustrated species from John Gould’s A Monograph of the Trochilidæ, or Family of Humming-Birds arranged by color.
Humming-Birds
