WHITE-BODIED SUNBIRD. 147 



seen in any other part of the plumage : the purple 

 colour extends to the first range of the shoulder-co- 

 vers, but all the rest of the wing is of a sepia-brown, 

 inclining to fulvous on the margin of the quills : the 

 tail is black glossed with purple, hut not so rich as 

 that of the back : the chin is glossy purple like the 

 upper plumage, but its commencement is dull black: 

 the sides of the head and neck are brown : all the 

 under parts, from the chin, are of the purest white : 

 the side-feathers beneath the wing are clear yellow. 



In the female the colours differ so much that it 

 might be taken for a different species. The bril- 

 liant purple on the head and hack of the other sex 

 is exchanged, in this, for an olive-grey, over which 

 however there is a delicate gloss of violet : the tail- 

 covers alone retain the rich purple of the other sex : 

 the tail also is of the same dark purple : the chin 

 and throat are pure white, but this gradually changes 

 on the body to a straw-coloured yellow : the side- 

 feathers are likewise of the same colour : the bill 

 and feet in both sexes are brown : in the female 

 there is a whitish line over the eye. There is 

 some slight differences in structure worth noticing 

 between this species and those from the Indian 

 islands : the bill is of a stronger make and a straighter 

 shape ; it is also less compressed on the sides and 

 broader at the base. The nostrils in this genus are 

 precisely the same as in Cinnyris and Diceum. 



Total length, 5| inches; bill, ^ wings, 2 T 8 U ; tail 

 beyond, 1^ ; ditto from the base, nearly 2| ; tar- 

 sus, iV 



