The genus Thaumatias, as proposed by Bonaparte and adopted by me, comprises many species respecting which much confusion exists, especially with regard to the names applied to them by the older authors; some confusion also occurs with respect to the species I have called Thaumatias Linnæi, which I fear cannot be satisfactorily unravelled. If it should be decided that it is not the bird Bonaparte intended, I trust it will be allowed to stand as the “Thaumatias Linnæi, Gould, nec Bonap.” The other synonyms may or may not be applicable to it, but they are given on the authority of M. Bourcier of Paris. This is another of those instances which unfortunately occur too frequently for the advantage of science; I mean the impossibility of determining the species intended in the curt descriptions left us by Gmelin and others of Tobaci or Tobagensis, Ourissia, cum multis aliis.
The species of this form are natives of Brazil, the banks of the Rivers Amazon and Napo, the Guianas, the island of Trinidad, Venezuela, New Granada, and Central America. The sexes of each species are alike in colour. If any difference be observable, it is in the outer tail-feathers of the female being faintly tipped with olive-grey.
Thaumatias candidus
Habitat: Guatemala and Southern Mexico
Plate 292
Thaumatias candidus
White-breasted Emerald
Mr. Salvin states that this species is “common on the Atlantic coast-region, about Yzabal, and thence one day’s ride into the interior. Very abundant about Coban. Many species of Humming-Birds in Guatemala extend through a great range of temperature, the same species being frequently found both in the coast regions and also in the more elevated districts.” Mr. Taylor saw very few examples of this bird in Honduras.
Thaumatias chionopectus (Gould)
Habitat: Trinidad, Cayenne, and Guiana
Plate 293
Thaumatias chionopectus
Snowy-throated Emerald
Thaumatias leucogaster
Habitat: North-eastern Brazil, Cayenne, and the Guianas
Plate 294
Thaumatias leucogaster
White-throated Emerald
Thaumatias Milleri
Habitat: New Granada. Common in the neighbourhood of Bogota.
Plate 296
Thaumatias Milleri
Miller’s Emerald
Thaumatias nitidifrons (Gould)
Habitat: Unknown: supposed to be Venezuela
Plate 297
Thaumatias nitidifrons
Brilliant-fronted Emerald
Thaumatias cæruleiceps (Gould)
Habitat: New Granada. Received from Bogota.
No illustrations
Thaumatias brevirostris
Habitat: South-eastern Brazil
Plate 298
Thaumatias brevirostris
Short-billed Emerald
Thaumatias affinis (Gould)
Habitat: Southern Brazil; the districts of Novo Friburgo and Minas Geraes
Plate 299
Thaumatias affinis
Allied Emerald
Thaumatias chionurus (Gould)
Habitat: Costa Rica
Plate 300
Thaumatias chionurus
White-tailed Emerald
Thaumatias albiventris
Habitat: Brazil, the neighbourhood of Sta. Catharina (Bourcier).
Plate 301
Thaumatias albiventris
White-bellied Emerald
This, the largest species of the genus, has the centre of the abdomen and the under tail-coverts white.
Thaumatias Linnæi (Bonap.)
Habitat: Northern Brazil, Cayenne, Dutch and British Guiana, Trinidad, and Venezuela
Plate 302
Thaumatias Linnæi
Linnæus’ Emerald
This bird is much smaller than the last, has less white on the abdomen, and the under tail-coverts tinged with grey.
I think it likely that pl. 62 of Lesson’s ‘Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux-mouches’ has reference to this species, and the text to the T. albiventris.
Thaumatias fluviatilis (Gould)
Habitat: Banks of the River Napo
No illustrations
In size this bird rather exceeds the last, and has a more than proportionately longer bill; the breast is glittering deep or grass green instead of golden green, and there is a narrow irregular streak of greyish white on the abdomen; but the great difference which distinguishes it from the T. Linnæi and the rest is the colouring of the under tail-coverts, the centres of which are dark brown margined with greyish white; the tail-feathers are short, and of a nearly uniform dull black.
Total length 4 inches, bill 2\(\frac{3}{16}\), wing 1, tail 1\(\frac{1}{4}\).
Thaumatias apicalis (Gould)
Habitat: New Granada
No illustrations
About the same size as the last, with an equally lengthened bill; the upper-surface golden green; the centre of the abdomen and under tail-coverts pure white; the four outer tail-feathers steel-black margined with pure white at the tip.
Total length 3\(\frac{1}{2}\) inches, bill 1, wing 2\(\frac{1}{8}\), tail 1\(\frac{1}{4}\).
Thaumatias maculicaudus (Gould)
Habitat: British Guiana
No illustrations
This is a very little species, with a long thin bill; its breast is green, as the other’s; the centre of its abdomen white; the under tail-coverts white, except in the centre, where they are dark brown; but the great difference is in the tail, which is exceedingly pretty, the two centre feathers being bronzy green, except at the extreme tip, which is greenish black, the next on each side bronze for half their length, then black; the three outer ones on each side bronzy green at their base, then broadly zoned with black, next to which they are green, and lastly white.
Total length 3\(\frac{1}{2}\) inches, bill \(\frac{7}{8}\), wing 2, tail 1\(\frac{1}{8}\).
A specimen of this bird was brought from Guiana by Sir Robert Schomburgk; and in all probability the species is an inhabitant of the interior.
The five preceding species are all very nearly alike, and form a minor section; they are confined to a comparatively limited area. The remaining members of the genus are more widely distributed, one of them inhabiting Guatemala and Costa Rica, and two or three Veragua, while the others frequent Venezuela, Trinidad, the Guianas, and Brazil; but as each of the species has its proper habitat dicated, it will be unnecessary to say more on the subject here. The females are very similar to the males in colour, except in the case of the rare species I have called T. chionurus, where the two sexes differ considerably, as may be seen on reference to the plate in which they are represented.
Featuring all 422 illustrated species from John Gould’s A Monograph of the Trochilidæ, or Family of Humming-Birds arranged by color.
Humming-Birds
