“It has all the charms of novelty to recommend it, and it stands alone among its congeners; no other member of the
genus, similarly coloured, having been discovered up to the present time. The throat vies with the radiant topaz, while the band on the forehead rivals in brilliancy the frontlet of every other species. The male bird has a fiery red mark on its forehead, and the crown of the head and upper surface of the body are bronzed green. The throat is ornamented with a gorget of deep fiery red, and below it is a crescent-shaped band of light buff, while the under part is of a deeper buff, changing to green at the sides. The tail is of a bronzed brown, with the two centre feathers of bronzed green. The female is destitute of the red mark on the throat and forehead.”
Heliangelus Clarissa.
Another sun-angel, the Heliangelus Clarissae, has a deep ruby crimson gorget.
Snow-Cap Humming-Bird.
In New Granada is also found the curious little snow-cap humming-bird, one of the most rare of the Trochilidae. It is of a brown colour, with a coppery hue, in which, in certain lights, a purple reflection can be perceived. The crown of the head and the tip of the tail-feathers are of a dazzling white.
Mr Gould describes one he saw perched on a twig, pluming its feathers. At first he was doubtful whether so small an object could be a bird. It was standing over a pool of water. “At first the little creature would poise itself about three feet or so above the water, and then, as quick as thought, dive downwards, so as to dip its miniature head in the placid pool. Then up again it would fly to its original position, as quickly as it had descended. These movements of darting up and down it repeated in rapid succession, producing a wonderful disturbance of the surface of the water for so diminutive a creature. After a considerable number of dips it alighted on a twig near at hand, and commenced pluming its feathers.”
Spangled Coquette.
The spangled coquette, like all of its genus, possesses a well-defined crest on the head, and a number of feathers projecting from the neck. This singular crest it can raise or depress at will, producing a curious effect in the appearance of the little bird. When depressed, the crest lies fiat, and