NECTARINTA CUPREONITENS. 21 



mutual wants drawing tliem fco the same flowers, and beine: 

 naturally pugnacious tussles often ensue, one bird chasing 

 another with shrill cries from the flowering plant where they 

 have met ; the pursued and pursuer fly swiftly and low, 

 darting rapidly round the bushes, disappearing for a moment, 

 then appearing again on the topmost shoots of two neigh- 

 bouring shrubs, when after a brief rest they dart off again 

 in their lively play, the rich green plumage flashing in the 

 sunshine as they glance over the dull sandy soil. 



Nectarinia cupreonitens. 



Nectarinia cupreonitens, Shelley, Mon. Neet. p. 17, pi. 6, fig. 1 (1876) ; 



Gadow, Cat. B. M. is. p. 6 (1884) ; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 8 (1896) ; 



id. Ibis, 1897, p. 523 Nyasa. 

 Nectarinia famosa (nee Linn.), Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 320 Shirt R. ; Hartl. 



and Finsch, Vog. 0. Afr. p. 213, pt. Zambesi, Abyssinia, Senegal ; 



Salvad. Ann. Mus. Genova, 1884, p. 138 Shoa ; Shelley, P. Z. S. 



1885, p. 227 Kilimanjaro; Reichen. Vog. Deutsch 0. Afr. p. 212 



(1894). 

 Nectarinia subfamosa, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Genova, 1884, p. 138 Shoa. 

 Nectarinia aeneigularis, Sharpe, Ibis, 1891, pp. 444, 590 Sotik, Lwribwa : 



Neurn. J. f. 0. 1898, pp. 241, 289. 



Adult Male. Very similar to N. famosa but smaller, the bill being 

 distinctly shorter and more curved, and with a rather well marked boundary 

 between the more golden shade of the throat and the bluer green of the 

 breast. Total length 7-9 inches, culmen 1-1, wing 3, tail 4-5, tarsus 065. 

 Lumbwa, <? 6. 10. 89 (F. J. Jackson). 



Adult Female. Similar to N. famosa but distinguishable by its shorter 

 and more curved bill. Total length 4"5 inches, culmen 095, wing 2-6, tail 

 1-6, tarsus 0'65. Kilimanjaro (H. H. Johnston). 



The Northern Malachite Sunbird ranges over Eastern 

 Africa from north of the Zambesi into Abyssinia and has 

 apparently been procured in Senegambia, for in the Bremen 

 Museum, we are informed by Drs. Hartlaub and Finsch, there 

 is a specimen labelled " Casamanse (Schneider) " which in size 

 agrees well with this species. To this species evidently 



