540 BULLETIN 186, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 

 NECTARINIA JUGULARIS FLAMMAXILLARIS Blyth 



Indo-Chinese Purple-throated Sunbird 



N[ectarinia] flammaxillaris Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. 14, 1845, p. 557. 



New name for "Nlectarinia'] jugularis Vieillot, apud Jardine" Blyth, Journ. 



Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. 12, 1S43, p. 979 ("the Tenasserini provinces"), not 



[Certhia] jugularis Linnaeus 1766. 

 Arachnechthra flammaxillaris, Gyldenstolpe, Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 1915, 



p. 171 (listed). 

 Cyrtostomus flammaxillaris, Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 



1916, p. 33 (Khun Tan, Pang Hua Phong) ; Ibis, 1920, p. 463 ("Throughout 



Siam proper"). 

 Chrysostomus jugularis flammaxillaris, de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 



Philadelphia, 1928, p. 561 (Chiang Mai). 

 Leptocoma jugularis flammaxillaris, de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila- 

 delphia, 1929, p. 564 (Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep) ; 1934, p. 242 (Chiang Mai, 



Doi Suthep, Chiang Saen). — Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 



1936, p. 124 (Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep). 

 Leptocoma flammaxillaris flammaxillaris, Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. 



Suppl., 1931, p. 155 (Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep). 

 Cyrtostomus flammaxillaris flammaxillaris, Riley, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 172, 1938, 



p. 502 (Ban Nam Khian, Phrae). 



The present species is a very common permanent resident, recorded 

 from all the northern provinces except Mae Hong Son. I have never 

 noted it on the hills above 1,500 feet, but de Schauensee states (1934) 

 that a single specimen was taken by him on Doi Suthep at 3,000 feet. 



Like its congener, the purple-throated sunbird is an inhabitant of 

 orchards and gardens, coconut plantations, and (less frequently) 

 the pa daeng. In all these places it occurs in equal numbers with the 

 nearly related species and the two may often be seen harmoniously 

 feeding together in the same trees. The mutual tolerance shown by 

 so evidently competitory forms can perhaps be explained by the abun- 

 dance of nectariferous flowers available throughout the year in our 

 inhabited districts. 



As is the case with Nectarinia a. intermedia, the breeding season is 

 of long duration : I have collected examples with the gonads slightly 

 enlarged November 26, greatly enlarged February 25, and enlarged 

 May 18 and 28. 



A nest containing young was discovered in a Chiang Mai compound, 

 January 28, 1929. It was a pensile, pyriform structure, attached by 

 cobweb to a mango branch about 12 feet above ground, and composed 

 of fine grass and vegetable fiber; a side entrance disclosed an inner 

 lining of feathers. The whole was loosely overlaid with strands of 

 cobweb which hung down as much as three inches below the chamber 

 to form a "tail" and were everywhere adorned with bits of dry leaves, 

 thin pieces of bark, and (especially on the "tail") with the woody frass 

 of cossid larvae. 



