372 



Legs and feet fleshy white ; the bill darker horny brown ; the 

 edges of both mandibles to within *6 of tip dirty yellow ; gape 

 fleshy white ; irides brown (Davisori). 



Length 7; tail 1'7 ; wing 3'5; tarsus -75; bill from gape 1-8. 



Distribution. Tenasserim south of Mergui, extending down the 

 Malay peninsula to Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. 



AraclmotJiera flavigastra is a closely allied species inhabiting the 

 Malay peninsula, and is likely to occur in Tenasserim. It may be 

 recognized by its larger size, by the eye being entirely surrounded 

 by yellow, and by its stouter and more flattened bill. 



ArachnotJiera crassirostris (Eeichb.) occurs in the Malay penin- 

 sula, and is not unlikely to be found in Tenasserim. This species 

 resembles Arachnothera longirostris very closely, but may be known 

 by its much broader and rounder bill and by the chin and throat 

 being of the same colour as the breast. 



The following species, on being critically examined, proves to be 

 no Sun-bird. I failed to discover this, however, till I was working 

 the Nectariniidce^ with which it has always been associated. 



My reasons for excluding this bird from the Nectariniidce are 

 threefold : 



It has no serrations on the margins of the mandibles, a character 

 found in all the Sun-birds. 



It has, according to Wallace (Ibis, 1870, p. 49), a tongue which 

 is " short, triangular, horny at the tip, and entire." 



It has habits which resemble those of no other species of Sim- 

 bird. 



I know the bird well in life, but prefer to quote what Davison 

 says on this point : 



" In its habits this species differs conspicuously from all its con- 

 geners, reminding one very much of the White-eyed Tit (Zosterops 

 palpebrosus) or again of Timalia (Cyanodermd) erythroptera. Except 

 perhaps during the breeding-season, it goes about in small parties 

 of from five to ten in amongst the undergrowth, or the skirts of 

 the forest, or in scrtib-juugle, hunting amongst the foliage and 

 roots of the trees for insects, on which it chiefly subsists, and keep- 

 ing up the while an incessant twittering. 



" Of other species of Sun-birds a dozen, or even at times fifty, 

 may be seen about a single tree ; but in the case of these there is 

 never any concerted action between more than a single pair. They 

 do not go about in flocks, though many individuals may happen 

 to collect in a single place, but the present species, when not 

 breeding, is almost always seen in flocks working together in concert, 

 invariably moving away from one place to another at the same 

 time and hunting, some high and some low, just as a mob of our 

 Titmice on the Himalayas may often be seen doing." 



The nestling bird resembles the female, and therefore the proper 

 position of this species appears to be among the Crateropodidce in 

 the subfamily Liotrichince, probably near Myzornis (Vol. i, p. 233). 



