CINNYRIS. 233 



chiefly in open jungle and gardens, wandering about from shrub to shrub. 

 The nest is suspended from the end of a twig by a cord of bark fibres 2-5 

 inches in length, at the end of which it swells gradually into the shape of a 

 pear with an oval aperture at one side near the top. Eggs, two in number, 

 072 x 0-50, a nearly uniform oval. Colour white, clouded with a greyish 

 zone towards the large or obtuse end, and thickly striped longitudinally with 

 irregular rufous brown bands. 



739- Cinnyris flammaxillaris (Blyth), Bp. C. A. i. p. 408, 



No. 45 ; Shelley, Monogr. Nect. p. 161, pi. 51 ; Oates, B. Br. Burnt, i. p. 

 320. Nectarinia flammaxillaris, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv. p. 557 ; xv. p. 370 

 (1846). Arachnethra flammaxillaris, Wald., P. Z. S. 1866, p. 541 ; id., Ibis, 

 1870, p. 24; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 154; Blyth, B. Burnt, p. 141; 

 Armstrong, Str. F. iv. p. 313; Oa/es, Sir. F. v. p. 148; vii. p. 40; Hume 

 and Davison, S/r. F. vi. p. 192 ; Gadow, Cat. B. Br. Mus. ix. p. 83. 

 Cinnyris andamanicus (Hume), Shelley, Monogr. Nect. p. 157, pi. 50. 

 Arachnethra andamanica, Hume, Str. F. 1873, p. 404 ; id., Str. F. 1874, 

 pp. 60, 105, 109, 198. Arachnethra frenata, Ball, J. A. S. B. xli. p. 280. 

 The BURMESE YELLOW-BREASTED HONEYSUCKER. 



Forehead, crown, sides of the head, back, scapulars, rump and upper tail 

 coverts greenish brown ; tail black, the centre feathers narrowly tipped with 

 white, the others progressively with larger white tips ; chin, throat and breast 

 rich metallic purple, bordered by rich steel-blue below the breast ; a band of 

 orange red and another black and broader one below it ; axillaries flame 

 red ; abdomen, sides of the body, vent and under tail coverts yellow ; 

 wings and coverts brown, edged with greenish brown ; under wing coverts 

 yellowish white, edge of the wing bright yellow. 



The female has the upper plumage, wings and tail like the male, but the 

 lower plumage is entirely yellow. Bill and legs bluish black j irides light 

 brown. 



Length. 4-5 inches; wing 2- 1 ; tail i'4; tarsus 0*55 ; bill from gape O'8. 

 (Oa/es.) 



Hab. The whole of British Burmah. Recorded from Arracan by Blyth 

 and Dr. Cantor. Lieut. Wardlaw-Ramsay collected it at Rangoon, Pegu and 

 in the Tonghoo hills. Gates also met with it in Pegu, and Capt. Beavan secured 

 it at Kyodan, and on the Salween river. It extends down the Malay Peninsula 

 and ranges into Siam and Cochin-China, in which latter country Dr. Tiraud 

 states that it is most abundant. Gates, in his Birds of Burmah^ says it is 

 perhaps the best known of all the Sun-birds in Burmah, for it is a most 

 familiar and fearless little bird. It is quite often seen hovering about 

 flowers growing close to the verandah of a house as well as in the forest, and 

 is generally found in pairs. It secures nectar from the flowers, either by 

 poising itself in the air, or by perching quite close to the flower and bending- 

 VOL. II. 30 



