Selasphorus Calliope Bird

English Name:  Calliope Hummingbird
Latin Name:  Selasphorus calliope
Protonym:  Trochilus (Calothorax) Calliope Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt15 no.168 p.11
Taxonomy:  Caprimulgiformes / Trochilidae / Selasphorus
Taxonomy Code:  calhum
Type Locality:  Mexico.
Author:  Gould
Publish Year:  1847
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

SELASPHORUS
(Trochilidae; Ϯ Rufous Hummingbird S. rufus) Gr. σελασφορος selasphoros  light-bearing  < σελας selas, σελατος selatos  light, fire, flame; -φορος -phoros  -carrying  < φερω pherō  to carry; "2. TROCHILUS (SELASPHORUS) RUFUS. (Swainson.)  Cinnamon, or Nootka Humming-bird.  ...   Sub-genus, Selasphorus*, SWAINS.   ...   *Th. Σελασφορος, splendorem ferens.   ...   the whole of the chin and throat is covered by scale-like feathers, of a fire-like colour and lustre, equally brilliant with the throat of T. mosquitus, but with more of a red and less of an orange gloss; the tints, however, change in almost every direction of light, and in all are exquisitely splendid.   ...   The feathers on the sides of the throat are gradually elongated, as they recede from the ears and seem capable of being raised into two tufts." (Swainson 1832); "Selasphorus Swainson, in Swainson and Richardson, Fauna Bor.-Am., 2, 1831 (1832), p. 324. Type, by monotypy, Trochilus rufus Gmelin." (Peters 1945, V, 141).
Var. Selasopherus, Selatophorus, Selosphorus.
Synon. Platurornis, Selasornis, Stellula.

CALLIOPE
(Muscicapidae; Ϯ Siberian Rubythroat C. calliope) Specific name Motacilla calliope Pallas, 1776 (< Gr. myth. Calliope, fine-voiced chief of the Muses); "Genus CALLIOPE.   GEN. CHAR.  Bill shorter than the head, straight, compressed laterally and pointed, with a slight indication of a notch near the tip of the upper mandible: base of the bill garnished with a few fine and short bristles.  Nostrils basal and oval.  Wings rather short and rounded, the first quill very short, the third and fourth the longest.  Tail short and rounded.  Tarsi long and slender, the hinder toe furnished with a large strong claw.   GORGET WARBLER.  Calliope Lathamii.  La Calliope.  Among the subdivisions into which the Sylviadæ are now distributed, we do not find one to which we can strictly refer the present beautiful bird; we have therefore ventured to form a new genus for its reception, taking the specific appellation of Pallas for its generic designation ... In the silky character of its plumage, in the presence of the gorget, and in the great difference between the sexes, it evinces a close affinity to the Blue-throated Warbler (Phœnicura Suecica), but in its general form and contour it approximates to the Nightingale (Philomela Luscinia), to which we consider it to be most nearly allied.  ...  Of its nidification and general economy we know but little: it is said to have an agreeable song, which it utters while perched on the topmost branches of trees." (Gould 1837); "Calliope Gould, 1836, Birds Europe, pt. 2, pl. 118, text. Type, by monotypy, Calliope Lathamii Gould = Motacilla calliope Pallas." (Ripley in Peters, 1964, X, p. 33).
Synon. Melodes.

calliope
Gr. myth. Calliope, fine-voiced chief of the Muses, who presided over eloquence and heroic poetry (Calliope, subsp. Pachycephala pectoralis, Selasphorus).