CINNYRIS SPLENDIDUS. 45 



Cinnyris splendidus. 



Cinnyris splendidus (Shaw), Shelley, Mon. Nect. p. 201, pi. 62 (1878) ; 



Nicholson, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 129 Abeokuta ; Oust. N. Arch. Mus. (2) 



II. Bull. p. 84 (1879) Gaboon; Shelley, Ibis, 1883, p. 548 Niger; 



Gadow, Cat. B. M. ix. p. 50 (1884) ; Sharpe, Linn. S. Journ. Zool. 



xvii. p. 428 (1884) Nyam-nyam ; Hartert, J. f. 0. 1886, p. 580 Niger; 



Beichen. 1891, p. 392 Togolancl; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 22 (1896) ; 



Beichen. J. f. O. 1897, p. 47 Togoland. 

 Nectarinia splendida, Gordon, Contr. Orn. 1849, p. 6 Gold Coast ; Bocage, 



Orn. Angola, p. 167 (1877) ? Congo. 



Adult Male. Head and neck metallic violet, shading into green on the 

 back and lesser wing-coverts ; wings and tail black ; the feathers at the 

 base of the throat are metallic-violet edged with scarlet and form a broad 

 collar ; pectoral-tufts pale yellow, remainder of the under parts black. 

 Total length 5 inches, culmen 0-95, wing 2-7, tail 1-7, tarsus 065. Accra, 

 12. 2. 72 (SheUey). 



Adult Female. Above ashy olive with an ill-defined broad buff eyebrow ; 

 outer tail-feathers with whitish ends. Beneath yellowish buff, palest 

 towards the chin ; front and sides of the chest obscurely mottled by the 

 olive brown centres of the feathers. Total length 4-9 inches, culmen 0'85, 

 wing 255, tail 17, tarsus 0-65. Cape Coast, 30. 1. 72 (Shelley). 



The West African Splendid Sunbird ranges from Senegal 

 into the Gaboon and Nyam-nyam countries. 



This species is the type of the genus Cinnyris. It appears 

 to be far more plentiful from the north than the south of the 

 Equator, and frequents equally the wooded or more open 

 country both near the coast and inland. 



In Senegambia it is a common bird; Laglaise procured 

 specimens on Cape Verde and Marche at many places between 

 that cape and the Gambia river. Sir A. Moloney met with 

 it at Bathurst, Beaudouin at Casamanse and Bissao, and 

 Fergusson, Fraser and Marche at Sierra Leone. It is curious, 

 therefore, not to find it recorded by Mr. Biittikofer from 

 Liberia, especially as it is a very abundant bird on the Gold 

 Coast, where Mr. T. B. Buckley and I looked upon it as the 



