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MALACHITE SUN-BIRD. 

 Nectarinia famosa. 



PLATE XVII. 



THE largest species of Sun-bird which is known, 

 and when in its full breeding plumage, a bird of 

 great splendour. In this form we have ten feathers 

 in the tail, short, and nearly of equal length ; the 

 centre or sixth pair being narrow and alone much 

 lengthened, in the specimen before us exceeding 

 the other feathers by three inches and a quarter. 

 This is what the French writers term " Queue en 



Jleche ; and in some of the smaller species the 

 length beyond the short feathers is even still more 

 disproportioned. The Malachite Sun-bird has been 

 frequently figured, both on account of its being 

 very early known, and from the splendour of its 

 colours, though perhaps few figures have or ever 

 will come up to the varying tints and changes 

 which play upon its plumage. An adult male now 

 before us is nine inches in extreme length, of which 

 the bill measures an inch and a quarter, the excess 

 of the centre tail-feathers being as we mentioned 

 above. The whole upper and under parts are of 



a deep Malachite green, having a play of golden 

 green and reddish bronze, particularly on the head 



