Blue-headed Sapphire

SCI Name:  Hylocharis grayi
Protonym:  Trochilus Grayi Rev.Zool. 9 p.307
Taxonomy:  Caprimulgiformes / Trochilidae / Hylocharis
Taxonomy Code:  blhsap1
Type Locality:  Popayan, Colombia.
Author:  DeLattre & Bourcier
Publish Year:  1846
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

HYLOCHARIS
(Trochilidae; † Rufous-throated Sapphire H. sapphirina) Gr. ὑλη hulē  woodland, forest; χαρις kharis, χαριτος kharitos  grace, loveliness  < χαιρω khairō  to rejoice; "Hylocharis.   a. Gefieder oben grün, Kehle bey ♂ schön blau. Am After weiße Flecken.  b. Schnabel gerade und  c. Schwanz äqual.    Arten.  1. Troch. sapphirinus Gm.   2. — latirostris. Pr. Max.   3. — cyanus. Viell.   4. — lazulus. Viell.   5. — cyanotropus Pr. Max.   6. — bicolor Gm.  u.s.w.    Die Schnäbel mehrerer Arten sind corallenroth, die Schwungfedern kupferglänzend." (Boie 1831); "Hylocharis Boie, Isis von Oken, 1831, col. 546.  Type, by subsequent designation, H. sapphirina (Gm.) Boie = Trochilus sapphirinus Gmelin. (G. R. Gray, List Gen. Bds., 1840, p. 14.)" (Peters, 1945, V, p. 52).
Var. Hylocaris.
Synon. Sapphironia, Ulysses.
• (Pachycephalidae; syn. Pachycephala † Mangrove Whistler P. cinerea) "Muscicapa presbytis, cantatrix, euryura et phoenicura KUHL, Hylocharis luscinia, Pardalotus percussus" (S. Müller 1835).  By some authors Müller's name is equated with Tephrodornis grisola Blyth, which is unidentifiable (see Hyloterpe and Muscitrea).
• (Pachycephalidae; syn. Pachycephala † Fawn-breasted Whistler P. orpheus) "PACHYCEPHALA ORPHEUS, JARDINE.  "Hylocharis orpheus, ♀." — Verreaux MS.  THIS bird, named on our plate Hylocharis orpheus, is another of the interesting species sent to us by Mr. Wilson, and the figure is now given to direct attention to those very curious but unobtrusive forms that appear to swarm over the islands of the Indian Archipelago. The generic name on M. Verreaux's MS. ticket, which is inscribed upon the plate, has been already applied to a genus of Humming Birds; but independent of that, after a close examination as to its proper position, we have been unable to separate it from Pachycephala" (Jardine 1850).
• (Trochilidae; syn. Patagona † Giant Hummingbird P. gigas) "HYLOCHARIS Boie.*   ...   1. H. gigas (Vieill.) Gal. des Ois t. 180. —Ornismya tristis Less. Ois. Mouch. t. 3., Nat. Libr. xv. pl. 3.; Orn. giganteus D'Orb. & Lafr.; Type of Patagona G. R. Gray (1840).  ...  *M. Boie established the above genus in 1831 (Isis, 1831, p. 546.).  Les Saphirs of M. Lesson (1829) are synonymous.  It embraces Patagona of G. R. Gray (1840), which is the Les Patagons of M. Lesson (1829)" (G. Gray 1848) (another forty-eight forms are included in Gray's genus); "Hylocharis G. Gray, 1848, The Genera of Birds, I, p. 114.  Type, by subsequent designation (Elliot, 1879, Smithsonian Contrib. Knowledge, 317, Classif. Synop. Trochilidae, p. 67), Trochilus gigas." (JAJ 2020).

hylocharis
Gr. ὑλη hulē  woodland, forest; χαρις kharis, χαριτος kharitos  beauty  < χαιρω khairō  to rejoice.

grayi / grayii
● John Edward Gray (1800-1875) English ornithologist (Amazilia, Ammomanopsis, Ardeola, Zosterops).
● George Robert Gray (1808-1872) English ornithologist, first Assistant Keeper at BMNH 1869 (subsp. Anthus correndera, syn. Anthus novaeseelandiae, subsp. Argusianus argus, syn. Chaetops pycnopygius, syn. Chalcopsitta cardinalis, Chenorhamphus, syn. Cisticola exilis rusticus, subsp. Crax fasciolata, Edolisoma, subsp. Leptocoma aspasia, Pipile, syn. Rallina tricolor, syn. Todiramphus chloris juliae, syn. Todiramphus chloris sordidus, Turdus).
● John Edward Gray (1800-1875) and his brother George Robert Gray (1808-1872) English ornithologists (syn. Campephilus pollens).