1866.] VISCOUNT WALDEN ON BIRDS FROM TENASSERIM. 541 



legs bright orange-yellow ; bill black." Jerdon gives the hides as 

 light brown, but does not state in what locality his specimen was 

 obtained. Compared with a Darjeeling skin in my collection no dif- 

 ference is to be detected. The southern limits of this species have 

 yet to be determined. 



9. iETHOPYGA MILES, (HodgS.). 



Cinnyris miles, Hodgs. Ind. Rev. 1837, p. 273. 



Nectarinia goolpariensis, Royle, 111. Him. Bot. 78, pi. 7. f. 1, 1839. 



Nos. 68, J , 43, $ . Moulmein ; Salween Valley. 



" Frequents Amherstia-trees in flower. Note, a loud piping. Ob- 

 served on Salween trip in villages feeding on the flowers of the 

 cocoa-nut palm." "Not only frequents flowering trees, but low 

 bushes and annuals near the ground when in flower. Secured a spe- 

 cimen on the common Costus argyrophyllus." 



No. 43 is marked a female ; but as it has the feathers of chin, 

 throat, and breast strongly tinged with crimson, I am inclined to re- 

 gard it as a young male, the females of the species, according to 

 both Hodgson and Jerdon, being soberly plumaged, without any of 

 the brilliant colours of the male. I have been unable to compare 

 Himalayan specimens, which furnished Hodgson with his types ; but 

 Jerdon states that the Himalayan bird is found in the Burmese coun- 

 tries. If TickelPs Nect. seherice (J. A. S. B. 1833, p. 577), founded 

 on a Borabhum specimen, should prove to be identical with the 

 Himalayan form, Hodgson's title of miles will have to give way. The 

 utmost southern limits of this bird have yet to be defined. As yet 

 it does not appear to have been discovered in the Malay peninsula. 



10. Arachnethra flammaxillaris, (Blyth). 



Nectarinia Jlammaxillaris, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1845, p. 557. 



Nos. 37, 45, 46, d ; 38, 39, 51, 70, $ . Kyodan, Salween Valley; 

 Moulmein. 



"A distinct semicircle of dull brick-red on breast, below the steel- 

 blue neck-patch ; below it, again, a few black feathers ; irides reddish 

 brown ; feet and legs black. The female is pale olive-green, with a 

 yellow breast, and wants the steel-blue throat of the male." Speci- 

 men no. 51 is assuming the steel-blue plastron, and has the orange- 

 coloured axillary tufts fully developed. It is therefore probably a 

 young male. The remaining three female specimens are in the sober 

 plumage described above. In the colouring of the whole upper sur- 

 face they closely resemble the male — so much so that, if specimens 

 of the two sexes are viewed together only from above, it is difficult 

 to detect any distinction. The tails in both, above and below, are 

 alike, the white tips of the outer rectrices being equally prominent 

 on the under surface. The only features which really distinguish 

 the males are the bright flame-coloured tufts, the steel-blue plumage 

 of the chin, throat, and breast, and the brick-red semicircle on the 

 breast, which is difficult to detect in skins that have not been care- 

 fully prepared. 



This species is nearly allied to the Javan N. pectoralis, Horsf.= 



