CINNYRIS MARIQUENSIS. 319 
axis, 9”; diam. 6’’”, and rather truncated in shape. Mr. T. E. 
Buckley found them common in the Bamangwato district, where 
they were generally seen in pairs. The same gentleman obtained 
them in Suaziland. A specimen, said to have been obtained in the 
Zambesi by the late Dr. Meller and formerly in the Editor’s collec- 
tion, is now in the British Museum. Mr. Andersson gives the 
following note on the species, and it will be noticed that the colour 
of the eggs, as stated by him, differs from that recorded above :— 
“T only met with this exquisite little species in my jour- 
neyings to the Okavango, in the neighbourhood of which river it 
was very abundant during the rainy season, being a migratory 
species, and arriving a little before the commencement of the rains. 
I also found it very common, though exceedingly shy, on the edge 
of the bush in Ondonga, where I obtained its nest on February 19th ; 
the nest was very large and strongly built, and resembled in form 
and material that of C. fuscus ; it contained five, small, oblong, and 
pure white eggs. Another nest, taken on March 27th, also contained 
five eggs. This sun-bird is exceedingly lively in its habits, and at 
the approach of the pairing-season it becomes inspired with the 
most lovely and exquisite, melodies, being a concentration of the 
softest trilling and melodious notes. I always found it either singly 
or in pairs.” 
General colour above glossy green, tinged with blue in certain 
lights, especially on the forehead and tail-coverts; neck and throat 
beneath blue, tinged with green, changing into deep purple on the 
breast, where it forms a bar succeeded by another of very dark 
brown ; the rest of the under parts white, faintly tinged with yellow; 
axillary tufts bright pale yellow ; wing-feathers brown; tail-feathers 
black, edged with iridescent green. Length, 4” 4’’’; wing, 2” 2”; 
tail, 1’’ 6’; bill, 9’”, considerably curved. 
The female resembles the male, but is all plain brown, tinted 
white below. 
Fig. Shelley, Monogr. Cinnyride, part II. 
804. CINNYRIS MARIQUENSIS. Southern Bifasciated Sun-bird. 
Nectarina bifasciata, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 77. 
If we are correct in separating these Bifasciated Sun-birds into 
different races, the most southern of them must be called by Smith’s 
name of mariquensis, as that of bifasciata is referable to the bird in- 
