GENERAL LOTEN's SUN-BIRD. 22J 



whole of the upper parts, cheeks, sides of the neck, 

 and lesser wing-covers, are of a dark metallic-green 

 with blue and purple reflections ; the wings umber- 

 brown ; tail bluish black, feathers edged with green. 

 On the under parts, the chin is velvet-black, the 

 neck and upper part of the breast dark metallic- 

 green, shading at the lower edge of this gular patch 

 into rich steel-blue tinted with violet ; this is suc- 

 ceeded by a narrow band of purplish red, the re- 

 maining under parts being of a dark yellowish 

 hair-brown, relieved upon the sides by two ample 

 axillary tufts of king's-yellow. In some specimens 

 the prevalence of the varying colour is different. 

 Mr. Jerdon's birds have a greater shade of purple 

 above, and the margin of the gular patch is nearly 

 steel-blue. Mr. Jerdon describes the female as 

 " Above light greenish-brown, quills darker, tail 

 black ; beneath pale yellow ; only differs from the 

 female of the last (onr next bird) in the darker tint 

 of the plumage above/' 



