ANTHREPTES. 141 



rinice we find some with the short bill of Diceum, 

 as N. cceruliocephala, and others with long and 

 curved bills, as N. cyanea, &c. ; by the first of these 

 modifications in the bill, the passage is opened from 

 Diceum to Nectarinea, while by the latter the 

 union is no less perfectly affected between Necta- 

 rinea and Anthreptes. In both these latter, the 

 form of the bill is very nearly the same, for however 

 they differ in other respects, the under mandible of 

 both possess that strength of structure we have 

 already explained, and which at once separates 

 both groups from the type of the whole family, 

 Clnnyris. 



Such are the affinities of the primary groups or 

 genera of the family of sunbirds, the detailed 

 characters of which will be given in our general 

 introduction to this science*. 



The geographic distribution of these genera is 

 altogether peculiar, each being no less characterized 

 in this manner, than by its particularity of structure. 

 Cmnyris is entirely confined to the Old "World, 

 and seems to have its metropolis within the tropics 

 of Africa and continental India. Anthreptes^ from 

 what we yet know, is very rare in Africa, where 

 one species only has been discovered ; nor are we 

 yet acquainted with any from continental India. 

 In the islands, however, of that ocean, laying be- 

 tween the Asiatic and the Australian range, nearly 

 all those with which we are yet acquainted are 



* On the Natural History and Classification of Birds, vol. ii. 

 part of the series of Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia. 



