Identifier: royalnaturalhist47lyde (find matches)
Title: The royal natural history
Year: 1893 (1890s)
Authors: Lydekker, Richard, 1849-1915 Sclater, Philip Lutley, 1829-1913 Frostick, W. B., former owner. DSI Brooks, W. T., former owner. DSI
Subjects: Zoology Natural history
Publisher: London and New York : Frederick Warne & Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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the Rio Negro and Eastern Ecuadordistinguished by the purplish black tint of the same feathers. Both species arecharacterised by the tail-feather on each side of the middle pair being elongated,curving outwards, and then crossing its fellow, as shown in the illustration. In the humming-birds commonly designated hill-stars (Oreotro- chilus), the beak is relatively short and curved, ^^dlile the toes are proportionately large, and the tail is squared, with narrow feathers. These birds HUMMING-BIRDS. 31 are inhabitants of the higher Andes from Ecuador to Chili, each species having apeculiar and restricted range. Thus, 0. pichincha and 0. chmihorazo occur only inEcuador, the former being confined to the volcanoes of Pichincha and Cotopaxi, andthe latter to that of Chimborazo ; 0. adelcn lives on the Andes of Bolivia, 0. leuco-pleurus on those of Chili, while 0. nielanogaster and 0. esteUce inhabit the Andesof Peru, the latter also occurring on those of Bolivia. The Chimborazan species, of
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GDIANAN KING HUMMIXG-BIRD (^ nat. size). which an illustration is given on p. 22, is olive-green, with the whole of the head,including the crown and the throat, deep glittering violet-blue, the rest of theunder surface of the body being white, with the middle of the abdomen and flanksblackish brown. Most of these hill-stars have a patch of black or chestnut along theabdomen, and the Chimborazan species differs from its ally only in having thecentre of the throat green instead of being entirely blue. The pichincha hill-starmust be a bird which presents many curious features in its economy, if anynaturalist could study and write its history, the few notes which have beenpublished about it fully warranting this supposition. Mr. L. Eraser states that 32 FICARIAN BIRDS. he observed this bird cKiiging to rocks, a habit which, as he justly observes,explains the use of the longer feet and claws. He believes that these birds buildtheir nests under overhanging ledges of rock, and breed in compa

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