342 Mr. E. Newton's Second Visit to Madagascar. 



17. Hypherpes corallirostris, A.Newton, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1863, p. 85, pi. 13*. 



" Sakody.'' 



At Chasmanna, on the 2nd of October, I killed this pretty little 

 Creeper as it was climbing up a dead tree : it was the only one 

 observed, but the natives said it was not uncommon. Iris very 

 dark red, beak vermilion, legs lead-colour. Male. 



18. Nectarinia angladiana, Shaw. 

 " Shoie." 



Observed all along the coast, but at Fenerive only it appeared 

 tolerably common. 



19. Nectarinia souimangn (Gmelin). 



Common everywhere. Ou the 1st of October, paddling up the 

 Hivondrona, I found a nest of this bird, containing two eggs, on 

 the bank, almost overhanging the water ; it was a domed one f, 

 and was very prettily placed iu some tall grass, the blue flower of 

 a Lobelia hicolor almost closing the entrance. It is composed out- 

 wardly of broad leaves of grass, decayed, and a little moss ; over 

 the entrance it has a sort of projecting pouch of a finer grass, 

 and inside it is lined with down of some plant. The eggs, which 

 were hard-set, are greyish white, thickly freckled with light 



* We subjoin Mr. A. Newton's descrijjtion of this entirely new form of 



bird : — 



"Hypherpes, genus novum Certhianum vel Sittinum. 



" Char. Gen. — Rostrum breve, robustum, leviter emarginatum, ad apicem 

 aliquanto compressum, rictu setoso. Alse mediocres, rotundatse, ad 

 caudam mediam attingentes, remige quarto, quinto et sexto ajqualibus ; 

 tertio septiraum, et octavo secundum, superantibus ; primo multo bre- 

 viore ; Cauda mediocris, prope sequalis, rectricibus duodecim aliquanto 

 rigentibus. Pedes validissimi, tarsis quam digiti medii posticique lon- 

 gioribus, unguibus compressis, subvalidis. 

 "Hypherpes corallirostris, sp. nov. 



" Capite, gutture, pectore et abdomine schistaceo-brunneis, olivaceo indutis ; 

 collo, dorso, alis caudaque supra fusco-cieruleis, virente tinctis ; remi- 

 gibus fuscis, extus pallide marginatis, iutus cervino latins limbatis, ut 

 in Tichodroma ; uropygio et crisso subrufescentibus ; rectricibus ob- 

 solete fasciatis ; rostro toto coccineo ; pedibus plumbeis ; iridibus 

 obscure rubris. Long. tot. 4-8 ; rostr. a fr. '4, arict. -65; al. 2-9; 

 caud. 22 ; tars. '9 ; dig. med. c. ung. '8, post. -97." — Ed. 

 t I mentioned (Ibis, 1862, p. 272) that last year I observed an open 



nest of this species ; as it was only building, I presume the birds had not 



put the roof on when I saw it. 



