452 MR. p. L. SCLATER ON AN AUSTRALIAN DUCK. [MaV 16, 



folded wing 2 in. 3J lin., of tail 1 in. 8 lin., of tarsus 7 lin. (One 

 example.) 



This Sun-bird belongs to Shelley's " pale metallic group " of 

 the genus Cinnyris, and is in colouring almost identical with C. qfer 

 (L.), but differs strikingly in size, being not larger than C. chalybeus 

 (L.), and in the shortness of its beak. In the male the metallic 

 green is perhaps rather more smooth and brilliant than in C. afer, 

 and the scarlet of the breast somewhat lighter ; but it is in the width 

 of the latter that the bird differs most, the specimen in finest plumage 

 having the belt an inch broad, which is actually wider than the same 

 marking in the much larger C. afer. It is further remarkable that 

 the wings are as long as in C. afer, viz. 2 in. 6 lin., while in C. cha- 

 lybeus they measure only 2 in. 3 lin. The bill, however, is 1 line 

 shorter than in C. chalybeus (culmen 9 lin.), and 5 lines shorter than 

 in C. afer (12^ to 13 Un.). 



C. erikssoni cannot be confounded with C. chalybeus, the latter 

 having such a very narrow scarlet breast-belt ; but it is more like 

 C chloropygius, Jard., a native of all the tropical West-African 

 coast from Senegal to Angola. This last-named bird, however, is 

 much smaller (total length 3 in. 7 lin.), and wants both the blue 

 upper tail-coverts and blue pectoral collar presented by C. erikssoni. 



Hab. Sheila, Province of Mossamedes {A. W. Eriksson, 1882). 



This handsome species was found by Mr. Eriksson to be not un- 

 common in the wooded ravines of the mountain-range called Sheila 

 ("Serra de Chella " of Keith Johnston's Library Map of Africa), 

 rather over a hundred miles inland from the port of Mossamedes 

 at Little Fish Bay. He describes its habits to be precisely those of 

 C. chalybeus and C. afer, both of which be had observed some years 

 ago at Knysna in the Cape colony, but which neither he nor the 

 late Mr. Andersson ever met with to the north of the Orange River. 

 Since seeing Mr. Eriksson's bird here described, it has occurred 

 to me that the specimen of C. afer stated by Capt. Shelley and Mr. 

 Sharpe to be recorded by Prof. Barboza du Bocage from Biballa may 

 possibly prove to be C ej-ikssoni, as the latter locality is only a 

 few miles distant from the Sheila range. 



5. Note on an Australian Duck living in the Society's 

 Gardens. By P. L. Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., 

 Secretary to the Society. 



[Keceived May 15, 1882.] 

 (Plate XXXIII.) 



In a paper on the Ducks living in the Society's Gardens, which I 

 had the honour of reading before this Society in June 1880, I men- 

 tioned that we had purchased of a dealer in the August of the pre- 

 ceding year a lot of 18 Australian Ducks, which, at the time of their 

 purchase, I had beheved to be Chestnut-breasted Ducks {Anas cas- 



