NECTARININ&, 137 
Major Butler says: “ Permanent resident on the Ghats, Com- 
mon, asa rule, all along the Sahyadri Range from Goa to Khandalla, 
extending often to the adjacent forests.” He also obtained a 
specimen or two at Belgaum, where, however, it is only a rare 
seasonal visitant. 
It has not been recorded from elsewhere within our limits, 
Cinnyris asiatica, Lath. 
234— Arachnechthra asiatica, Lath.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, 
Vol. I, p. 870 ; Butler, Deccan ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 390 ; 
Guzerat, Stray Feathers, Vol. III, p. 462; Murray’s Vertebrate 
Zoology of Sind, p. 119; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; 
Ibis, 1885, p. 64. 
THE PurPLE Honey SUCKER. 
Length, 45; wing, 2°3; tail, 15; tarsus, 0°6; bill at front, 
0°75. . ; 
Bill and legs black; irides red-brown. In summer, breeding 
plumage this species has the whole head, neck, throat, breast, and 
back glossy green-purple; the abdomen purplish-black; wings 
and tail dull black, the latter faintly white-tipped; a tuft of 
crimson and yellow feathers at the axillz of the wings. 
After breeding, the fine purple garb is doffed, all except a long 
stripe from the chin to the vent. 
The young bird has the upper parts dull olive-green ; beneath 
bright yellow; shoulders and central stripe beneath brilliant 
glossy-violet ; wings and tail dusky or black. 
The female is greenish brown-grey above, greenish-yellow 
beneath, deepest on the throat and breast, and lighter on the vent 
and under tail-coverts ; quills dusky ; tail black. 
- The Purple Honey Sucker is very common throughout the region 
and is a permanent resident. 
It breeds from March to September, but most nests are found 
in April and May ; the nest is pendant, and resembles a florence- 
flask in shape; it is attached to a twig, and all sorts of material 
are made use of in its construction, fine grass, lichens, cobwebs, 
pieces of straw, dead flowers, and leaves, &c. The entrance is 
high up on one side, and has a projection or canopy over it to 
keep out the rain. 
The eggs, two or three in number, are dingy little ovals, of a 
whitish ground color, thickly speckled with brown and greyish- 
brown. They measure 0°64 in length by about 0°46 in breadth. 
Cinnyris lotenia, Zin. | 
205.—Arachnecthra lotenia, Lin.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. I, 
' p. 872; Butler, Deccan; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 390, 
THE LARGE PuRPLE HONEY SUCKER. 
-. Length, 5°5; wing, 23; tail, 1°6; tarsus, 0°6 ; bill at front, 1. 
Bill and legs black ; irides dark brown. 
