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

BIEDS OF AEGENTINA, PAEAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 231
presented by Dr. Edwyn Reed, of Valparaiso, demonstrate that this
species is generically separable from Sephanoides under the name
Thaummte of Eeichenbach, on the basis of broader, shorter bill,
stronger tarsi and feet, broader rectrices, and relatively longer tail.
These distinctions, though most apparent in males, are readily seen
when females are compared. The four specimens donated by Doctor
Eeed form a valuable accession to the collections in the United States
National Museum, since the Juan Fernandez hummer had been rep-
resented there previously by the skin of a male alone.
SAPPHO SAPHO (Lesson)
Ornismija sapho Lesson, Hist. Nat. Ois.-RIouch., 1829, p. 105. (" Interior of
Brazil.")
Trochilus spayyatiurus of Shaw,'* the name in common use for the
present species, must be transferred to the bird described by Gould ^
as Cometes phaon^ since Shaw's plate, though crude, shows distinctly
the long bill and the light line extending beneath the eye of this bird,
while he describes the gold crimson bar on the otherwise black tail
that also is characteristic of it. The locality assigned by Shaw,
Peru, is also the one inhabited by this species. The bill in the hum-
mer, that has been called sparganurus in the past, is shorter, a white
line, where present, extends only to the anterior margin of the eye,
not below it, and the tail is coppery red instead of crimson ;
in addi-
tion, the bird is of more southern range. Cometes phaon Gould,
therefore, takes the name Sappho sparganura (Shaw) and Ornismya
sapho must be used as the name for the other species. The
locality assigned by Lesson, " interior of Brazil," is doubtless incorrect.
Cory ^ recenth^ has used Leshia of Lesson ' for the species under
discussion. Though Lesson did not designate a type for this genus,
Gray* subsequently selected Ornismya kingii of Lesson,' a species
not now considered congeneric with Ornismya sapho^ so that Sappho
of Reichenbach ^" must be used for the present species.
Near El Salto, at an elevation of between 1,500 and 1,800 meters
above Potrerillos, Mendoza, this beautiful!}^ marked hummer was
fairly common on March 19, 1921. A red-flowered epiphyte {Psit-
parasitic on creosote bush, was common, and
tacanthus cuneifolius) ,
Sappho came with other hummers to feed at it. The plant grew
in clumps from 1 to 2 meters from the gi-ound, with the massed
color of the flowers against the gray green of the surrounding vege-
tation prominent at a considerable distance. On the rock-strewn
* Gen. Zool., toI. 8, pt. 1, 1812, p. 291.
*Proc. Zool. See. London, 1847, p. 31. (Peru.)
« Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 2, no. 1, Mar., 1918, p. 281.
' Ind. Gen. Syn. Troch., 1832, p. xvii.
* List Gen. Birds, 1840, p. 14.
"Troch., 1832, p. 107, pi. 38.
".\.v. Syst. Nat., 1850, pi. 40.