58 NECTAKINnD^. 



Nectarinia asiatica, Hartl. J.f. O. 1859, p. 293. 



Ai'aclmeclithra edeui, Anders. Rep, Zool. Yunnan Exp. p. 661, pi. 47 



(1878). 



Adult male in ivinter jilumage. General colour of the whole bird 

 metallic black in position A. The wings black above, edged with 

 bluish ; imdcr. surface dark brown, without any pale inner edges; 

 tail-feathers uniform blue-black ; all the rest of the upper parts, 

 the sides of the neck, and the under tail-coverts dark purplish 

 blue in position B, dark bluish green in position ^t] ; chin and throat 

 dark purplish blue ; the terminal parts of many of the feathers of 

 the chest maroon-red, thus producing an indistinct but conspi- 

 cuous collar across the chest ; the large pectoral tufts orange and 

 bright yellow ; breast, abdomen, flanks, and under wing-coverts 

 with a velvety purple gloss. 



Ohs. Amongst twenty-one specimens of perfectly adult males in 

 the British Museum, two (one from Kamptee and the other from 

 Simla) have all the tail-feathers but the central pair tipped with 

 white ; this occurs again, although in a much smaller degree, in the 

 two specimens from Baluchistan, the types of C. hrevirostris. These 

 white tips seem to be retained from the plumage of the young bird, 

 since out of eleven immature males in the collection sis have these 

 tips developed. 



In sprinri and in summer the maroon-red on the chest fades away, 

 not by the tips of the feathers being worn off. There are ten speci- 

 mens with the maroon collar, two of which were shot in January ; 

 nine without any trace of the collar, one being shot in May ; five 

 with slight traces of maroon on some of the feathers. Only three of 

 the whole collection are dated. 



This collar has no correlation with geographical distribution. 

 My reason for believing that the maroon collar is pa,rt of the winter 

 plumage is that a similar collar is constant in such allied species 

 in which there is less differentiation in colour between the sexes, 

 as in C. souimanga. 



Adult female. Above pale earthy brown with a slight olive tinge; 

 wings brown ; inner web of quills edged with pale buff ; tail blackish, 

 with large white tips to most of the feathers ; all the underparts 

 uniform yellow, this colour inclining to white on the under tail- 

 and wing-coverts and on the edge of the wing ; thighs dull yellow ; 

 sides slightly tinged with greenish. 



Immature male. The metallic colours begin along the throat and 

 on the ulnar bend ; lastly they appear on the lower back and on the 

 crown of the head. 



Bill of Cinnyris asiatica. 

 Hah. Ceylon and Indian peninsula. 



