Black-throated Brilliant

The nominate subspecies H. s. schreibersii of black-throated brilliant is 11.5 to 13 cm (4.5 to 5.1 in) long. Males weigh about 9.9 g (0.35 oz) and females 7.1 to 8.5 g (0.25 to 0.30 oz). Both have an almost straight dark bill about 2.8 cm (1.1 in) long and a small white spot behind the eye. The male has shining green upperparts with a glittering green forehead. Its underparts are black with a small glittering purple patch and narrow glittering green band on the lower throat. The steel blue tail is very long and deeply forked. Voice: What is thought to be the song of the nominate black-throated brilliant is "a repeated, drawn-out, descending reeling trill of c. 4–5 seconds." It also makes single "chup" notes. The presumed song of H. s. whitelyana is a similar trill lasting about 3 seconds, but there are too few recordings to be sure if it is truly different from the nominate's.