There are species of this tribe more brilliant in colour and more richly varied in the disposition of those colours, but assuredly none more singular or pleasing in general aspect than the bird before us. In point of size the Tufted Humming Bird is one of the smallest species of its family, scarcely exceeding in that respect the figure delineated in the plate, for its total length is not above three inches, and its bulk proportionate. The head and upper part of the body, and also the wings above, are green with a golden lustre; the tail greenish, changeable to testaceous golden brown, and having the inner webs rufous. The throat is of a fine green colour, variable in different lights to a golden hue with a yellow or a brown metallic lustre, and below that the whole of the belly is a rich brown glossed with green and golden. On the head of the male bird is a crest of pointed feathers of an orange or testaceous brown colour, and on each side of the neck a tuft composed of elongated feathers, differing in length, and having the tips of a dark but brilliant green. These feathers the little creature has the power of raising or depressing at pleasure: when these are displayed in full array on each side of the green patch on the front of the neck, and the crest stands erect, which is invariably the case when the bird is offended or surprised, the appearance of this bird is altogether remarkable. The female has neither the ruff on the neck nor the crest, and its colours are in general more obscure than in the male. The bill is of a moderate length and straight, the legs very short and the feet diminutive.[18] In the annexed plate this elegant little bird is seen perched upon a tuft of the JACQUINIA AURANTIA, THE AUSTRALASIAN ORANGE JACQUINIA, in blossom; a plant that inhabits the New Holland and New Zealand, and which flowered in the month of July in the present year, at Kew. ----- Footnote 17: “Le dessus du corps est d’un vert-sombre, qui jette quelques reflets dorés: les parties inférieures ne présentent que des couleurs rembrunies.” _Buffon_ Footnote 18: A New Zealand specimen of this rare bird, lot 6286, sold for the sum of £2 10s. in the Leverian sale. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: _26_ _London. Published as the Act directs by E. Donovan & Mess.^{rs} Simpkin & Marshall Dec.^r 1, 1822._ ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONCHOLOGY. PLATE XXVI. TURBO SCALARIS WENTLETRAP. ORDER UNIVALVE. GENERIC CHARACTER. Shell spiral, solid: aperture contracted, obicular, entire. * _Umbilicate, or Perforated._