187 



FINE-BACKED SUN-BIRD. 



Nectarinia ntbro-fusca, SHAW. 



SPECIMENS identical \vith the bird we are now about 

 to describe from our own collection occur in the 

 British Museum, the Museum of the Zoological 

 Society, and at Fort Pitt, Chatham, but all without 

 any name attached, "We have referred it to the 

 species of Shaw above named, and consequently to 

 the bird figured by Mr. Swainson in the Birds of 

 Western Africa. Its other synonymes will be found 

 in our Synopsis, and we would merely observe, that 

 all the specimens we have examined are very close 

 and similar in their markings and the tints on the 

 plumage. 



The length of our specimen is about four inches 

 eight-tenths, and it is a bird of rather lender make. 

 The crown, back, and sides of the neck are of a rich 

 reddish purple, with a bronzed or coppery lustre ; 

 the middle of the back, the rump, and upper tail 

 coverts, rich auricula-purple with a changing lustre, 

 richest on the coverts, and losing itself upwards in 

 the tint of the head and neck ; the chin, throat, and 

 upper parts of the breast are of a shade intermediate 

 between these, the purple prevailing, and all the 

 other parts of the plumage are deep black, tinted 



