Sylvia viridis. Brisso7i, Orn. ). p. 455. 

 Le Pepit verd. Brissun, Ois. 3. pi. 28./. 4. 

 Blue-headed Warbler. Latfi. Syn. 4. p. 503. 

 Blue-headed Creeper? Lath. Syn. 2. p. 727. 



1* Ew birds require more illustration than this very beautiful 

 though common species; described by most ornithological 

 writers, but hitherto so little understood, that the two sexes 

 stand as distinct species in a family of birds to which they 

 have, in reality, no natural affinity. According to the Lin- 

 ngean system it should have been rather placed with the 

 Creepers than the Warblers ; an error which has been 

 continued by every subsequent writer, even by Professor 

 Temminck, whose skilful and accurate perception of natural 

 affinities is, in geneial, so remarkably correct. 



That these two birds, however dissimilar in colour, are the 

 sexes only of one species, repeated dissections in their native 

 country have put beyond all doubt ; and that it is a genuine 

 Nectarinia (or C&reha of Temminck) will appear from sub- 

 mitting it to a rigorous comparison with the characters the 

 Professor himself has laid down for that genus. 



Its habits are no less perfectly the same as the lest of the 

 Nectari}ii(s ; it is one of the commonest birds of Brazil, and 

 appears spread over the whole extent of that country. It 

 frequents the saiiie trees as the Humming-birds, hopping 

 from flower to flower, and extracting the nectar from each ; 

 but this is not done on the wing, because its formation is 

 obviously diflferent from the Humming-birds, which, on the 

 contrary, poise themselves in the air during feeding. The 

 shortness of the bill has evidently given rise to this bird 

 being placed with the Warblers; but this organ is not 

 shorter in proportion than it is in Necfariiiia spiza, {Certhia 

 spita cT Latl\am). 



I am unacquainted with the other varieties of this species 

 mentioned by authois. Of the bird here described, I have 

 never seen any variety, either in Brazil or in our museums. 

 The young males, as usual before moulting, have the colours 

 of the female ; one of them, in an intermediate state, is in 

 my possession. As both the figures are of the size of life, 

 and accurately coloured, a fuller description is unnecessary. 

 The rich sky-blue of the male, in some lights, becomes 

 greenish, and in others dark blue. The bill, like that of all 

 ihe genuine Nectarinifc, is slightly notched a little way from 

 the tip, and the base is much broader than high. 



