THE LESSER DOUBLE-COLLARED SUN-BIRD. 



Nectarinia chalybeia, LINN^US. * 



PLATE I. 



By several early ornithologists, and occasionally 

 down to the present time, the two birds from 

 Southern Africa, known under the names of Certhia 

 chalyleia, Linnaeus, and Sucrier a plastron rouge of 

 Le Yaillant, have been confounded with each other ; 

 and we believe a third may now be added from the 

 western coast, which, though closely allied to the 

 first, seems to present variations in size and colour- 

 ing. As representing the African even-tailed form 

 of Nectarinia, where the colours of the lower plu- 

 mage are distributed in the form of bands, we shall 

 now describe the three birds in their turn. 



This very beautiful species was considered by Le 

 Yaillant to be distinct from his " Sucrier a plastron 

 rouge," though it had been by some authors con- 

 founded with it ; and this opinion seems now to 

 have been confirmed by most modern ornithologists, 

 who generally retain for them the distinguishing 

 names of " Greater and Lesser Collared Sun-birds ;" 



* The authority, placed after the Latin name of the bird, 

 will be understood to refer to the specific name only. 



