78 



ON THE SrX-BIEDS OF THE [1870. 



the word ''lovf/issimis" slipped from his pen instead of " iiifjris." Should it be shown that 

 the LinnsEan species did possess elongated middle rectrices, it is clear that it was not an 



Araclinechfhra. 



Sparrman's plate represents either a male moulting into postnuptial plumage, or else a male 

 assumin'' full nuptial dress. Prof. Sundevall, in his critical exposition of Sparrman's ' Museum 

 Carlsonianum ' (K. Vet. Akad. Handl. 1857), states that the type is a Javan bird ; but this must 

 be a mistake, unless it be a young example of A. pectoral is (Horsf.) with the frontal patch 

 undeveloped, in which case Horsficld's title would be superseded*. Figure B, in Sonnerat's 

 plate, may have been taken from a female or very young male of C. sperata, L. Figures 3 and 4 

 of the 'Planches Enluminees' no. 576, were perhaps drawn from the original Brissonian type 

 specimens in the collection of De Reaumur and Aubry, or else coloured after Brisson's descrip- 

 tion. P. L. S. Miiller, clearly, describes from figure 4 of the plate just mentioned, although he 

 does not indicate the source whence he obtained his description, beyond giving Buffon's name- 

 ISIontbeillard's account (Hist. Nat. Ois. v. pp. 506-510) is not original, but copied from Brissou, 

 the dimensions included. 

 Ibis, 1870, According to Sir W. Jardine's description of this species, the only full and trust- 



P- ^- worthy account that has yet been published, taken from a Philippine specimen obtained by 

 Mr. Cumin", the steel-blue plastron is intensely dark on the centre, but does not extend so far 

 down as in A. pcdomlis (Horsf.). Meyen, most unaccountably, regarded the Philippine Arach- 

 ■nechthra as the female of C. spcrata, L. 



8. ARACHXECiixnRA ZEXOBIA (Less.), Voy. Coq. Zool. i. p. 679, no. 104, t. 30. f. 3, c? adult., 

 "Soya Mountains, Amboyna" (1826), descr. orig. 



Cinnyris clemcnfice. Less., Diet. Sc. Nat. 1. p. 18 (1827), ex Less. I. c. 



Kectarmia zenohia (Less.), S. Midler & Schl., Verb. Nat. Gesch. Ned. Overz. Bez. Zool. Aves. 



p. 60 [1846]. 



\Le Sucrier hronze, Le Vaill., Ois. d'Afr. vi. p. 170, t. 297. f. 2, "Africa"! 



CJialcostetha zenohia (Less.), Reichenb., Handb. p. 286, no. 063. 



Eah. Amboyna, not uncommon among the farm enclosures and sparsely covered heights 

 (Miiller) ; Ke, Bouru, Amboyna, Ceram (Wallace) ; Dorey, New Guinea, Gilolo (G. R. Gray). 



Lesson refers C. dementia' to figure 2 of his plate above cited, which represents L/rccum 

 enithrothorax 2 . Bonaparte (Consp. i. p. 409) cites figure 1 of the same plate, which represents 

 1) eriithrothorax 6 . If the specimen from which Le Vaillant figured his alleged female of Le 

 Sucrier hronzd was not manufactured, it must have been one of A. zenohia, as suggested by M. J. 

 Verreaux to Prof. Sundevall in his remarks on Le Vaillant's bird (no. 297, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. 

 1857). A specimen in my possession, obtained from a large collection of birds sent from 

 Queensland, and consisting of authenticated Queensland species, represents a form exactly similar 

 to Ceram examples of A. zenohia (Less.), excepting that it is smaller in its principal dimensions, 

 and that it possesses a steel-blue frontal patch. Thus this alleged Queensland bird bears to 



* Do all the Sun-birds of this group, after breeding, doff their metallic feathers, except on the mesial line, in the same 

 manner as yJ. asialica and A. lotenia ? If they do, C. gularis, ^urrm., may be A. pectoralis (Horsf.), in pardy postnuptial 

 plumage. 



