I now enter upon the genus Phaëthornis, the members of which are so widely dispersed, that the remark I made on the extended distribution of the entire group is almost applicable to this section of it. In the body of this work I have figured nearly thirty species under this generic appellation, including therein the smaller kinds to which Bonaparte gave the name of Pygmornis, a term I shall now adopt for these little birds: but a further subdivision of the group I cannot for a moment entertain; the separation of the P. Bourcieri into a distinct genus, for which the term Ametrornis has been proposed by Dr. Reichenbach, and of the P. Guyi under that of Toxoteuches by Dr. Cabanis, being, in my opinion, quite unnecessary.
Phaëthornis Eurynome
Habitat: Brazil
Plate 16
Phœthornis Eurynome
Eurynome Hermit
Phaëthornis malaris
Habitat: Cayenne, the Guianas, and Northern Brazil?
Plate 17
Phaëthornis superciliosus
Cayenne Hermit
It will be seen that the above list of synonyms differs from that given with my account of this species. I adopt these synonyms on the authority of Dr. Cabanis, who considers that I am in error in applying the term superciliosus to the bird I have figured under that name, and that it properly belongs to the one I have called Pretrei,—an opinion which is probably correct, as the German naturalists are doubtless better acquainted with the type specimens of continental writers than we can be: the synonyms of malaris and superciliosus are therefore given in accordance with the views of Dr. Cabanis.
Phaëthornis consobrina
Habitat: New Granada, Ecuador, and the banks of the Napo
No illustrations
This is the bird so commonly sent from Bogota, and which so closely assimilates both to the P. malaris (superciliosus of my work) and P. longirostris (cephalus). It ranges over the north-western parts of Venezuela and New Granada. I have also a specimen from Archidona in Ecuador. A great number of specimens from all these countries are now before me, and among them two named consobrinus by M. Bourcier himself, and one from Mr. Lawrence of New York, labelled P. Moorei, proving that these two names have been applied to the same bird.
Phaëthornis fratercula (Gould)
Habitat: Cayenne and the neighbouring countries
Plate 18
Phaëthornis fraterculus
Allied Hermit
Every ornithologist who has paid attention to the Trochilidæ must have seen a Humming-Bird from Cayenne and the adjacent countries which is very similar to, but smaller than, the P. malaris (superciliosus of this monograph); yet, strange to say, I find no description that will accord with it. I have therefore given it the above specific appellation. It is possible that it may be the female of the P. malaris (superciliosus).
Phaëthornis longirostris (Gould)
Habitat: Central America
Plate 19
Phaëthornis cephalus
Mexican Hermit
Phaëthornis syrmatophora (Gould)
Habitat: Ecuador
Plate 20
Phaëthornis syrmatophorus
Train-bearing Hermit
“Irides hazel; upper mandible black; lower mandible red, tipped with black; legs and feet dark flesh-colour. Stomach contained yellow insects. All insects previously examined amongst the Humming-Birds have been black.”
Fraser in Proc. of Zool. Soc. part xxvii. p. 145.
Phaëthornis Boliviana (Gould)
Habitat: Bolivia
No illustrations
Upper mandible black; under mandible yellow, with a dark tip; above and beneath the eye a stripe of buff; chin smoky brown; throat, chest, belly, and under tail-coverts dull reddish fawn-colour; crown dark brown, each feather faintly striated with buff; all the upper surface dull reddish fawn-colour, crescented with small marks of brown; base of the four outer tail-feathers on each side bronzy green, to which succeeds a bar of black, beyond which the tip is reddish buff; the two prolonged centre-feathers bronze at the base, then brownish black, and white for the remainder of their length.
Total length 5\(\frac{1}{2}\) inches, bill 1\(\frac{1}{2}\), wing 2\(\frac{1}{4}\), tail 2\(\frac{1}{2}\).
This bird is somewhat allied to P. syrmatophora; but it is of much smaller size, and has the throat and chest differently coloured, those parts being obscure smoky grey without the conspicuous streakings of buff; the whole under-surface also, as well as the rump, is less richly coloured.
Phaëthornis Philippi
Habitat: Peru or Bolivia
Plate 21
Phaëthornis Philippi
De Filippi’s Hermit
Phaëthornis hispida (Gould)
Habitat: Bolivia
Plate 22
Phaëthornis hispidus
Hairy Hermit
Phaëthornis anthophila
Habitat: New Granada
Plate 24
Phaëthornis anthophilus
Pallid Hermit
Phaëthornis Bouchieri
Habitat: Cayenne and the adjacent countries
Plate 25
Phaëthornis Bourcieri
Bourcier’s Hermit
Phaëthornis Guyi
Habitat: Trinidad
Plate 26
Phaëthornis Guy
Guy’s Hermit
Phaëthornis Emiliæ
Habitat: New Granada
No illustrations
On reference to my account of P. Guyi, it will be seen that I questioned whether the Trochilus Emiliæ of M. Bourcier was not identical with that species; but having since seen a great number of examples of the latter from Bogota, and of the former from Trinidad, I find that each possesses certain characters by which an experienced ornithologist would be able at once to say whence specimens of either had been received. The Andean bird, when fully adult, is rather larger in size, is much darker in general appearance, has the chin-stripes less conspicuous, the apical two-thirds of the tail-feathers blacker, and their basal third and the upper tail-coverts bluish green instead of pure green. The differences in the two birds are, in fact, precisely analogous to those which occur between the Glaucis hirsuta and G. affinis.
Phaëthornis Yaruqui
Habitat: Keuador
Plate 27
Phaëthornis Yarugui
Yaruquian Hermit
“Upper mandible black; lower deep red, with a black tip; legs and feet reddish.”—Fraser, Proc. of Zool. Soc. part xxvill. p. 94.
As the last three species advance in age their tails become shorter, their feathers broader, and the white fringing of the lateral ones almost obsolete.
Phaëthornis superciliosa
Habitat: Eastern Brazil
Plate 28
Phaëthornis Pretrei
Pretre’s Hermit
As in the case of P. malaris, the above list of synonyms is given on the authority of Dr. Cabanis.
Phaëthornis Augusti
Habitat: Venezuela
Plate 29
Phaëthornis Augusti
Sallé’s Hermit
Phaëthornis squalida
Habitat: South-eastern Brazil.
Plate 30
Phaëthornis intermedius
Middle-sized Hermit
Featuring all 422 illustrated species from John Gould’s A Monograph of the Trochilidæ, or Family of Humming-Birds arranged by color.
Humming-Birds
