136 



OLIVE- BACKED SUNBIRD. 



Cinnyris cMoronotus, SWAINS. 

 PLATE XVI. 



Body above, olive-yellow; beneath, cinereous grey; head, 

 throat, and breast, glossy blue-green ; side-feathers of the 

 breast, straw-yellow. 



Le Soui-manga a tete bleue, Vieittot, Ois. d'Or. ii. p. 31, pi. 7. 

 Certhia cyanocephala, Auctorum. 



THE great importance of affixing to the species of 

 so intricate a group as this is, such specific names 

 only as will assist in discriminating them, is one of 

 the reasons why we do not adopt that of cyanoce- 

 phala in the present case ; another is, in the doubts 

 we have as to the propriety of considering the Sou'i 

 manga a tete lleue of M. Vieillot, and the S. M. 

 vert et gris of the same author, as one species. 

 Added to this, there are nearly twenty Sunhirds to 

 which the name of cyanocephalus will apply ; while 

 this is the only one we at present know of, whose 

 upper plumage, in an adult state, is green. 



The size is about equal to that of the red-collared 

 species already described. The whole of the head, 

 neck above, and the throat, as far as the breast, is 

 of a dark glossy blue-green ; this colour terminates 

 before it reaches the interscapulars, which, with 



