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A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 2 of 3

Note 115 — Family TROCHILIDÆ.—The Humming-Birds.

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Calypte floresi, (Lodd.) Trochilus floresi, Lodd. MSS. Selasphorus floresi, Gould, Monog. Troch. III, pl. cxxxix. There are certainly few reasons for considering this bird as a Selasphorus, while there are many for referring it to Calypte. The only feature that it shares with the former is the peculiar coloration, and to some extent the shape, of the tail. However, in Selasphorus the outer primary is always (in the male) attenuated and acute at the tip, and the crown is never metallic, while in Calypte the outer primary is never attenuated nor acute, and the crown of the male is always metallic. The form and coloration of the tail are nothing more than a specific character, since no two species, of either genus, agree in this respect. In view, then, of these considerations, we find floresi to be strictly congeneric with the other species of Calypte.

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