MAHRATTA SUN-BIRD. 223 



wing-covers are steel-blue varied with green or 

 purple, and in some specimens having a violet tinge 

 entirely prevailing ; wings brownish black ; tail 

 black feathers edged with steel-blue. The cheeks, 

 chin, neck, and upper part of the breast, are of the 

 same steel-blue with the upper parts, sometimes 

 inclining to greenish or to violet, but on the chin 

 the feathers are darker, almost black, and the fore 

 part of the neck is of a deeper and more violet tint 

 in some lights, showing a decided central mark run- 

 ning downwards for the whole length of the gular 

 patch. The remaining under parts are black, having 

 the feathers of the under tail- covers edged with 

 steel-blue; but the black is separated from the 

 gular patch by a narrow band of purplish red, in 

 some specimens scarcely perceptible. The axillary 

 tufts are king's-yellow, overlaid by a few plumes of 

 brilliant orange-red. 



Mr. Jerdon describes the female as " above, 

 greenish brown-grey ; beneath, pale yellow; darkest 

 on the throat ; tail black ; quills dusky." 



Colonel Sykes has stated this bird to be South 

 African as well as Indian, on the comparison of 

 specimens from both countries.* 



* Proceed. Zool. Soc., 1835, p. iii. page 62. 



