Genus Heliothrix Boié

This, like the last, is a very well-marked form, of which two species are natives of Central America and New Granada, one of the regions of the upper Rio Negro, and two of the rich country of Brazil. They are all distinguished by being decorated with beautiful blue tufts on the sides of the neck, relieved by glittering green cheeks and snowy breasts. In addition to this fine display of colours, two of them have rich blue crowns; there is yet another character common, I believe, to the whole—that of the tail of the females being much larger and more lengthened than that of the males; the young males, too, have this organ much more prolonged than the adult males; they have all peculiarly sharp wedge-shaped bills, lengthened wings, and small feet. Judging from these points in their structure, I believe these birds to be endowed with the power of more rapid flight than any other members of the family.

• 238.

  Heliothrix aurita

  Habitat: Northern Brazil, the banks of the Amazon, the Guianas, and Venezuela

  Plate 213 Heliothrix aurita Cayenne Fairy

  • Trochilus leucocrotaphus, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat. tom. vii. p. 374; Id. Ency. Méth. Orn. part. 2nde, p. 571.
  • Heliothrix aurita, Reichenb. Aufz. der Col. p.13; Id. Troch. Enum. p. 11; Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. Theil iii. p. 28.
• 239.

  Heliothrix auiculata

  Habitat: South-eastern Brazil

  Plate 214 Heliothrix auriculatus Brazilian Fairy

  • Heliothrix auriculata, Reichenb. Aufz. der Col. p.13; Id. Troch. Enum. p. 11; Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. Theil iii. p. 28.
  • Heliothrix aurita, jun., Burm. Th. Bras, tom. ii. p. 336.
• 240.

  Heliothrix pahainolæma (Gould)

  Habitat: The banks of the Upper Rio Negro

  Plate 215 Heliothrix pahaïnolæma Green-throated Fairy

  • Heliothrix phaenoleuca, Hartl. Wieg. Arch. xxii. 2. p. 23.
  • Heliothrix phaenolaema, Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. Theil iii. p. 28, note.
• 241.

  Heliothrix Barroti

  Habitat: Guatemala, Costa Rica, and the forests of New Granada bordering the Pacific coast, as far south as Ecuador; Esmeraldas (Fraser)

  Plate 216 Heliothrix purpureiceps Purple-crowned Fairy

  • Heliothrix purpureiceps, Gould in Proc. Zool. Soc., part xxii. p. 87.
  • Heliothrix Barroti, Salvin in Ibis, vol. ii. p. 410.
  • Heliothrix Burroti, Reichenb. Aufz. der Col. p.13; Id. Troch. Enum. p.11; Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. Theil iii. p. 28, note.
  • Ornismya Gabriel, Delatt. Echo du Monde Savant, No. 45, Juin 15, 1843, col. 1070.
• 242.

  Heliothrix violifrons (Gould)

  Habitat: Carthagena, or Veragua

  Plate 217 Heliothrix Barroti Columbian Fairy

  On receiving this bird from M. Warszewicz, I considered it to be referable to the Heliothrix Barroti, and accordingly figured and described it under that name. Subsequently I received another bird with a differently coloured crown, which, believing it to be new, I described and figured as H. purpureiceps, but I now find that the latter is the true H. Barroti, and that the former is a new bird; I therefore propose for it the distinctive appellation of H. violifrons.