A.RACHNECHTHRA.. 361 



quills with pale rufous ; tail blackish, the margins greenish and the 

 lateral feathers tipped pale; entire lower plumage, under wing- 

 coverts, and axillaries pale yellow. 



Bill dark brown ; the gape and mouth cinnamon-red ; iris dark 

 hazel ; eyelids plumbeous ; legs black ; claws brown. 



Length 4; tail 1*2; wing 1-95; tarsus -45 ; bill from gape *65. 



Distribution. This species is spread over the whole of Arrakan, 

 Pegu, and Tenasserim, but appears to be nowhere very common, 

 except in the southern portion of the latter division. Godwin- 

 Austen obtained this Sun-bird in Tipperah, whence Hume also 

 records it as well as from Chittagong. It extends down the M alay 

 peninsula to Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. The nest has not yet been 

 found within Indian limits. 



//<(bits, <Sfc. This species probably breeds from March to June. 

 A nest is described as being of the ordinary type, without a portico 

 over the entrance, and composed of glistening red-brown scales 

 taken from the stems of ferns felted together and covered with 

 black moss-roots and cocoon-silk. The eggs, two in number, are 

 brown with a darker ring round the larger end, and measure about 

 58 by -4. 



897. Arachnechthra pectoralis. The Malay Tellow- 

 breasted Sun-bird. 



Nectarinia pectoralis, Horsf. Tr.Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 167 (1822) ; Blyth, 



Cat. p. 2'2~>. 

 Cyrtostomus pectoralis (H orsf.), Horsf. < M. Cat. ii, p. 739 : Hume, 



N. 8f E. p. 155. 

 Arachnechthra pectoralis (Horsf.), Wald. Ibis, 1870, p. 25; Sail, S. 



F. i, p. 64 ; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 196 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd 



ed. ii, p. 259. 

 Cinnyris pectoralis (Horsf.'), Shelley, Mon. Nect. pp. xxvii, xxxvi, 87, 



10-1, pi. 53 ; Gadoiv, Cat. B. M. ix,p. 88 ; Hume, Cat. no. 234 bis. 



Coloration. Male. Forehead, anterior part of crown, and cheeks 

 violet-blue ; lores black ; upper plumage, sides of head and neck 

 olive-yellow; wings brown, each feather margined with olive-yellow; 

 tail blackish, the lateral feathers broadly tipped with whitish ; chin 

 and throat metallic violet, bordered by a band of metallic blue, which 

 gets broader on the upper breast and is narrowly margined with 

 maroon ; lower plumage bright yellow ; pectoral tufts deep yellow 

 tinged with red ; under wing-coverts very pale yellow. 



Female. Upper plumage olive-yellow, as also the sides of the 

 head and neck; entire lower plumage deep yellow; wings brown, 

 cai-h feather edged with olive-yellow; tail blackish, the lateral 

 feathers broadly tipped with white. 



Legs, feet, and bill black ; iris brown (Hume). 



Length about 4*5; tail 1*4; wing 2*1 ; tarsus '55; bill from 

 gape *7 to *9. 



There are two distinct races of this bird in the Nicobar Islands. 



