I shall close this account of the little green Humming-Birds with a description of the extraordinary species sent to me by Mr. Reeves of Rio de Janeiro, and which I have described, in the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society,’ as Calliphlox? iridescens. Its iridescent green colouring would indicate that it belongs to this section; while its comparatively small wings and short tail ally it to Calliphlox; but as it is not strictly referable to either genus, I propose for it a separate distinctive appellation, and provisionally place here the genus Smaragdochrysis.
Generic characters.
Male.—Bill longer than the head, straight and slender; wings small, primaries narrow and rigid; tail of moderate size and deeply forked; tarsi clothed; feet small; hind toe and nail nearly as long as the middle toe and nail.
Smaragdochrysis iridescens (Gould)
Habitat: The virgin forests of the interior of Brazil
Plate 359
Smaragdochrysis iridescens
Iridescent Humming-Bird
Featuring all 422 illustrated species from John Gould’s A Monograph of the Trochilidæ, or Family of Humming-Birds arranged by color.
Humming-Birds