234 NECTARINIID^E. 



over its head. The male during the dry weather, Gates says, has a jubilant 

 song, and when singing it perches itself on the top-most branch of a bamboo 

 clump or tree. The nest is a beautiful pear-shaped structure, six or eight 

 inches in length, with a small circular hole about the centre for an entrance* 

 This hole is overhung by a portico, projecting an inch or more from the body 

 of the nest. The materials used are fine grasses; and the exterior of the 

 nest is covered with cobwebs, to which are attached pieces of bark, dead 

 leaves and cocoons in such a way that it is most difficult to discover the nest, 

 which is usually suspended from the tip of a low branch quite near the 

 ground. The eggs are two in number, and are greenish white, marked with 

 greyish ash, 



I have followed Dr. Gadow in uniting with this species the Andaman race, 

 C. Andamanicus, which differs from it only in the slightly longer bill and in 

 the paler colouration of the breast and axillary tufts, and in the less extent of 

 the non-metallic breast band. Another closely allied species is Cinnyris 

 pectoralis, found in the Nicpbars and the Malayan Peninsula. It has the 

 foreneck and cheeks metallic blue, with a purple or greenish gloss, and 

 wants the superciliary streak. The pectoral tufts are gamboge yellow, and the 

 loral and preocular region black, all the other parts are as in flammaxillaris 

 and andamanica. 



Gen. Arachnothera. Temm. 



Bill very long, moderately curved, either rounded or keeled, the base broad 

 and somewhat three-sided ; tip entire ; nostrils basal, small, longitudinal, 

 covered by a membrane, operculated laterally in the form of a slit; nasal 

 bristles none ; wings long ; the first primary short ; tip of wing formed by the 

 third, fourth and fifth primaries, which are longest. Tail short, about half the 

 length of the wing, broad, and even ; tarsus covered with scales, which are 

 often fused into one ; legs large and strong ; plumage of back and rump 

 often long and fluffy. Males generally with pectoral tufts. 



74O. Arachnothera longirostris (Lath), Temm. PL Col. 



pi. 388, text; Lesson, Man. d'Orn. ii. p. 32 ; id., Traite d'Orn. i. p. 292 ; 

 Blyth, Cat. Mus. As. Soc. pp. 222, 347 ; Bp., C. A. i. p. 409; Hume and 

 Dav., Str. F. vi. pp. 174, 507 (1878) ; Hume, Sir. F. vii. p. 35 ; Shelley, 

 Monogr. Nect. p. 357, pi. 114; Hume and Dav. , Str. F. 1878, p. 330; 

 Hume, Str. F. 1879, p. 330; Oates, B. Br. Burnt, i. p. 330. Certhia 

 longirostra, Lath., Ind. Orn. i. p. 299. Cinnyris longirostris, Vieill, N. Diet. 

 d'Hist. Nat. xxxi. p. 504. Arachnothera affinis, Blyth, (nee. Hors/.), J. A, 

 S. B. xv. p. 43. Arachnothera pusilla, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. S. B. 

 App. p. 328; Jerd. y B. Ind. i. p. 361, No. 224; Beavan, Ibis, 1867, 

 PP. 322, 334 5 Ball, Str. F. 1873, p. 64 ; Hume, Str. F. 1874, p. 473 ; 1875, 

 p. 85 ; Blyth, B. Burm. p. 140 ; Gadow, Cat. B. Br. Mus. ix. p. 103. The 

 LITTLE SPIDER-HUNTER. 



