Scissor-tailed Hummingbird

SCI Name:  Hylonympha macrocerca
Protonym:  Hylonympha macrocerca Ann.Mag.Nat.Hist.(4), 12 p.429
Taxonomy:  Caprimulgiformes / Trochilidae / Hylonympha
Taxonomy Code:  scthum1
Type Locality:  Locality not known.
Author:  Gould
Publish Year:  1873
IUCN Status:  Endangered

DEFINITIONS

HYLONYMPHA
(Trochilidae; Ϯ Scissor-tailed Hummingbird H. macrocerca) Gr. ὑλη hulē  woodland, forest; νυμφη numphē  nymph, maiden; "I must confess that, after the many years I have been studying this family of birds, I was not prepared for the acquisition of the remarkable species hereinafter described. It is most nearly allied to the members of the genus Thalurania, but is sufficiently distinct in its form to warrant its being constituted the type of a new genus, for which I propose the name of Hylonympha, with the following characters:— Bill stout, somewhat curved, a little longer than the head.  Wings rather long and falciform.  Feet and toes moderately strong; tarsi clothed.  Tail ample, deeply forked, and larger in comparison with the size of the body than that of any other member of the family.  Were it not for its large, long, swinging tail, it would very much remind us of Thalurania glaucopis.    Hylonympha macrocerca.  ....   Habitat uncertain. I obtained this bird from Mr. Whitely, who stated he received it in a collection of skins which had been formed in Brazil." (Gould 1873); "Hylonympha Gould, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), 12, 1873, p. 429. Type, by monotypy, Hylonympha macrocerca Gould." (Peters, 1945, V, p. 91).

hylonympha
Gr. ὑλη hulē woodland; νυμφη numphē nymph.

macrocerca
Gr. μακροκερκος makrokerkos long-tailed < μακρος makros long; κερκος kerkos tail.