CINNYRIS. 229 



PLATE. 



Male in breeding plumage. Upper parts with the sides of the head and 

 neck very dark glossy metallic green, passing more or less into purple ; in 

 freshly moulted specimens almost as purple as in Cinnyris asiatica, but 

 usually much greener ; lores black ; ear coverts with less gloss than the 

 adjoining parts ; wings and the larger coverts hair brown ; tail feathers black, 

 with a faint purplish gloss and sometimes, but not generally, with narrow 

 pale tips ; chin, middle of throat and upper breast rich metallic purple, with 

 a shade of steel blue, the latter separated by a narrow pectoral band, not always 

 well marked, of copper red, from the still darker bluish purple of the lower 

 breast, abdomen and under tail coverts ; on each flank behind the axil is the 

 tuft of yellow and scarlet feathers characteristic of the group to which this 

 species belong ; iris brown. Bill and legs black. 



The male in non-breeding plumage resembles the female, except that it has 

 the usual purple stripe from the throat to vent, the rest of the under parts being 

 pale grey, whilst the wings and tail are rather darker than in females, and 

 there is a tinge of purple gloss on the smaller wing coverts and rectrices ; the 

 female is greyish brown above ; quills and wing coverts hair brown, with pale 

 margins ; tail blackish brown, all the outer tail feathers tipped with whitish, 

 the amount of white being largest on the outermost feathers, on which it 

 extends some distance up the outer web ; lower parts greyish white with more 

 or less pale yellow on the throat and breast ; chin white, also the abdomen ; 

 cheeks yellowish. (Blanf.) The species is closely allied to C. asiatica ; but 

 differs in being a little smaller with a considerably shorter bill, 0-53 to o'68 

 against 0*7 to 0*88 in asiatica, and a green instead of purple gloss on the upper 

 parts approaching in this respect to C. osea, Bp. 



Length. 4-25 to 4-5 ; wing 2*1 to 2*23 ; tail 1-15 to 1-48 ; tarsus o'6 ; culmen 

 0-53- 



Hal. Sind, Beloochistan, S. Persia, and the Persian Gulf. Mr. Blanford's 

 experience is that its favourite resort is the thick tamarisk bushes along the 

 beds of streams. 



735. Cinnyris lotenia (Z/.), Cuv. Regn. Anim. i. p. 412; Bp. 



C. A. i. p. 408 ; Shelley, Monogr. Nect. p. 177, pi. 56; Gadow, Cat. JB. Br. 

 Mus. ix. p. 60. Cinnyris politus, VieilL, N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxxi. 

 p. 500; Jerd., Madr. Journ. xi. p. 225. Nectarinia lotenia, Jard., Monogr. 

 Sun-birds, pp. 220-263, pi. 23 ; Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii, p. 978 ; Gould, B As. 

 pt. viii. pi. in. Arachnethra lotenia, Cab. Mus. Hem. i. p. 105 ; Reichenb,, 

 Handb. Scansorice, p. 294, pi. 579; Jerd., B. Ind. i. p, 372; Walden, Ibis, 

 1870, p. 23 ; Holds-worth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 434 j Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 563. 

 The LARGE PURPLE HONEYSUCKER, 



