Zoological Illustrations/VolIII-Pl130

by William Swainson

TROCHILUS latipennis,

Grey Sickle-winged Humming Bird,

Male and Female.

Generic Character.—See Pl. 82.

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Specific Character.

T. viridi-aureus, subtus canus; remigum primorum (in maribus) scapis dilatato-incurvatis; rectricium pennis 4 mediis viridibus apice nigro, lateralibus albis basi nigrâ; rostro vix recto.

Golden green, beneath grey; greater quills (in the male) with the shafts dilated and incurved. Four middle tail-feathers green tipped with black, lateral feathers white with a black base; bill nearly straight.

T. latipennis. Lath. In. Orn. 1. p. 310. Gen. Zool. 8. 1. 318.

T. campylopterus. Gm. Sys. Nat. 499. n. 65.

L'O. mouche à larges tuyaux. Vieillot Ois. D'or. p. 21. p. 59.

Broad-shafted H. Bird. Lath. Syn. v. 2. p. 765. Gen. Zool. 8. 318.

The opinion I expressed on the unusual formation of the wings in two species of Humming-birds, figured at pl. 83 and 107, appears to receive the fullest confirmation from the birds here represented. One of these (pl. 131) is clearly the T. latipennis, or Broad-shafted Humming-bird of authors; while the other presents not the slightest difference except in the shafts of the quills, which, instead of being thickened and dilated, are of the ordinary size.

Not having myself dissected these birds, I cannot decidedly say they are male and female; but I think no reasonable doubt can remain that such is the fact, and that these singular quill-feathers are characteristic only of the male sex.

Both the birds are represented the size of life, and may be included in one description: the upper plumage obscure blueish green, glossed with a coppery or golden tinge and shaded with brown, the plumage beneath entirely grey; ears and sides of the neck the same, the latter with some spots of greenish. Tail large, even, and broad; the two middle feathers green, tipt (in the male) with blackish; the next pair black, with the base green, and the extreme points whitish; the remainder black, with their ends more or less white. Wings violet brown, the shafts of the three outer quills, in the male, dilated and compressed, but simple in the female. Said to inhabit Cayenne. Although the bill of this species is all but straight, it belongs naturally to the curved-bill division.