Bulletin - United States National Museum - si-pddr - Smithsonian ...

230 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
most hummers, and though it fed at the same plants (the red-
flowered Psittacanthus cuneifolius) ^ it flew directly to the flower
clusters and clung to them with its strong feet while it probed the
blossoms, instead of hovering in the air before them. The flight
was comparatively slow and the wing motion far from rapid. At
El Salto (altitude 1,800 meters) these birds sought the warm shelter
of hill slopes, where they rested in low bushes among fragments of
rock, and at intervals darted down into the valley below to feed.
During the flight the white of the tail is prominent.
SEPHANOmES GALERITUS (Molina)
Trochilus galeritus Molina, Sagg. Stor. Nat. Chili, 1782, p. 247. (Chile.)
Since G. R. Gray in 1840 ^ listed Sephanoides (which he attributes
to Lesson) as a genus, >vith TrocMJus Jdngii of Vigors as type, this
name must replace Eustephanus^ erected by Eeichenbach in 1850.
The specific name of this hummer may also be open to question since
Molina in his Latin diagnosis says " Trochilus cu7'virostris " and his
entire description, as usual, is somewhat vague.
This species was common near Concon, Chile, from April 25 to
28, where a male was taken April 25 and females on April 25 and 27.
The male, in fresh fall plumage, is dark green above, with little of
the coppery reflection found in most skins, so that it suggests the
condition in the bird described by Boucard ^ as Eustephanus hurtoni
on the basis of one specimen from Chile. It is possible that hurtoni
represents the fresh plumage of gale?iius, since its measurements
agree with those of the common bird.
Near Concon, JS. galeritus was common among open, brushy growths
that covered ranges of low, sandy hills. The birds fed at the blossoms
of flowering shrubs, searched old yucca heads for insects, or
snapped at gnats dancing in the air. Their flight was rather slow,
accompanied by a subdued, barely audible humming; at intervals
they closed the wings for a second, allowing the body to sink for a
foot or so, and then with renewed motion continued on their course.
The legs, for a bird of this group, were long and the feet and claws
strong. They often clung to flowers with their claws, while probing
them for food, in the manner noted in O reotrochilus leucopleurus.
The male had a twittering song with a metallic rattle that suggested
some finch. The usual call was a high-pitched tsee-ce that changed
to a steady rattle, as, with a flash of reflected light from the brilliant
crown, the bird darted away in pursuit of some intruder.
An adult male had the bill black ; iris Vandyke brown ; tarsus and
toes fuscous black.
An adult male (preserved as a mummy), and a male and two females
in alcohol, of the rare Juan Fernandez hummer generously
=• List Gen. Birds, 1840, p. 14.
3 Hummingbird, vol. 1, Mar. 1, 1891, p. 18.