138 



LITTLE YELLOW-BELLIED SUNBIRD. 



Cinnyris pttsilla^ SWAINS. 



Above copper-green, beneath yellow; front, chin, throat and 

 breast, purple-violet ; throat with a green band; upper tail- 

 covers blue-green. 



OUR description and notice of this diminutive spe- 

 cies, which only measures four inches, must be 

 shorter than we could wish ; we have not a speci- 

 men hefore us, and we can therefore only transcribe 

 the short account we drew up of one in the Chatham 

 Museum, sent there with many other birds from 

 the Gambia. It is a very small typical species, with 

 the tail rounded on the sides and slightly forked in 

 the middle : the bill is much curved and greatly 

 compressed, and the fourth and fifth quills are long- 

 est : across the throat is a collar of copper-green, 

 from which part, to half way down the abdomen, the 

 colour is rich violet, but ending in blackish : all the 

 remaining under plumage is clear straw-yellow: 

 side-feathers pure yellow tipt with bright orange- 

 red : wings brown : tail glossy blue-black edged with 

 shining blue-green. 



Total length, 4 inches ; bill, ^ ; wings, 2^ ; 

 tail beyond, ^; ditto base, 1J; tarsus, \. 



