250 NECTARI:NIID;E. 



JEthopyga vigors! (Sykes). Vigors' s Yellow-backed 



Sun-bird. 

 vEthopyga vigorsii (Sykes), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 363. 



Mr. Ludovic Stewart sends me the following note regarding the 

 breeding of this Sun-bird : " I found a nest of jEthopyga vir/orsi 

 at Mahableshwar carefully hidden in a trellis of passion-flower in 

 the verandah of my house. It was purse-shaped, of moss and 

 lichen outside, and soft pappus of a composite plant within, a 

 round opening near the top, but no shelf over the opening. I did 

 not take the nest (June 8), as it contained three young." 



Messrs. Davidson and Wooden, writing of the Deccau, say : 

 " Fairly common along the ghats and breeds at Mahableshwar." 

 And Mr. H. Wenden further remarks : " 17th Sept., found 

 nest suspended from bush growing out of face of cutting at upper 

 entrance of No. 19 tunnel, Bhore Grhats. Shot both male and 

 female. Missed the latter twice, but that did not deter her return- 

 ing to the nest each time within a couple of minutes after being 

 fired at. 3 eggs quite fresh. Saw several other pairs about. On 

 21st Sept. found another up a hill-side, about 200 yards from 

 where I got the first. It was suspended from the outer end of 

 a branch, 5 feet from ground." 



The egg of this species, sent by Mr. Wenden, is a moderately 

 broad oval distinctly pointed towards one end. The shell, though 

 very fine and delicate, is entirely glossless. The ground-colour 

 appears to have been white, but it is everywhere so thickly freckled 

 over with dull pale yellowish brown, that nothing certain can be 

 said in regard to it. Besides this freckling there are several 

 clouds and ill-defined spots of a darker shade of the same brown, 

 and near the large end a single excessively fine twisting hair-line 

 which is almost black. It measured 0*63 by 0*48. 



2Ethopyga saturata (Hodgs.). The Black-breasted Yellow- 

 backed Sun-bird. 



JSthopvga saturata (Hodgs.\ Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 367 ; Hume. Rough 

 Draft N.&E. no. Ml. 



The Black-breasted Yellow-backed Sun-bird, according to Mr. 

 Hodgson's notes and drawings, builds a beautiful, pear-shaped, 

 hanging nest, about 6-5 inches in length by 3 in breadth at the 

 broadest part. The nest is hung at the end of a slender thorny 

 twig, and is composed of moss, bound together with little strips of 

 bark and vegetable fibre, and is lined with the soft down or pappus 

 of some asteraceous plant. The entrance is almost immediately 

 below the point of suspension, and is screened by an awning, 

 which projects about an inch and hides more than half of the 

 entrance-hole. They began to lay, it appears, in April, two or 

 three being the number of the eggs, which, however, are neither 

 described nor figured. Like the rest of this genus, it breeds only 

 once in the year. 



