86 Mr. W. T. Blanford on new 



marked with narrow furrows of angular form arranged in re- 

 gular order, angle within angle. Bill longer than the head, 

 measures in length from gape to point 1" 9"', greatest width 

 of hill 11'", tarsus 1" 5'", middle toe and claw 1" 6"', wing from 

 flexure 8", tail 4", total length 14" 3'". 



The young, taken from the nest November 25, clothed en- 

 tirely with a dense covering of dark smoky grey down, 

 lightest in colour on the neck and under surface ; pectination 

 of the upper mandible undeveloped; the length of the bill 

 from gape to point 1", greatest width 4'". The eggs, which 

 give out a rancid submusky odour, are white, oval in form, 

 and measure 2" through the axis, with a breadth of 1" 6"'. 

 Ohinitahi, New Zealand. 

 June 7, 1872. 



IX. — Descriptions of new Species of Nectarinia, Sitta, and 

 Parus from Persia and Baluchistan. By, William T. 

 Blanford, C.M.Z.S. 



1. Nectarinia (Arachnechthra) brevirostris, sp. nov. 

 N. affinis N. asiatica, sed minor, rostro breviore, pileo dor- 

 soque maris viridioribus, feniinse notseo magis griseo. 



Long. tot. 4 - 5, ala3 2*2, caudse 14, tarsi 06, rostri a fronte 

 054, a rictu 0*67 (poll. Angl. et dec). Femina vix minor. 

 Long. tot. 4 - 25, alas 21, caudse 1*25. 



Hab. in Baluchistan, circa Jalk, Dizak, Bampur, &c. 



Male in breeding -plumage. — Upper plumage, with the 

 sides of the head and neck, very dark glossy metallic green, 

 passing more or less into purple ; in freshly moulted speci- 

 mens almost as purple as in N. asiatica, but usually much 

 greener; lores black, ear-coverts with less gloss than the 

 adjoining parts. Wings and their larger coverts hair-brown, 

 tail-feathers black with a faint purplish gloss, and sometimes, 

 but not generally, with narrow pale tips. Chin, middle of 

 throat, and upper breast rich metallic purple, with a shade of 

 steel-blue, the latter separated by a narrow pectoral baud, not 

 always well marked, of copper-red, from the still darker bluish 

 purple of the lower breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts. 

 On the flanks behind the axil is the tuft of vellow and scarlet 



