BIRDS OF TENASSERIM. 183 



Legs and feet very dark reddish or purplish brown ; bill black ; 

 i rides very deep brown. 



231 ^.— Chalcostetha insignis, Gould. (2). Eemale, 

 Descr, S. F., Ill, 319 n. 



Patoe Island ; Malewoon. 



A rare straggler to the extreme south of the province, but 

 perhaps extending somewhat further north amongst the islands 

 of the Mergui Archipelago. 



[This species swarms in the cocoanut plantations at Singapore. 

 Any number were procurable there, in August, September, and 

 October ; but I observed it nowhere else in the Malay Penin- 

 sula except at Copah (Junk Ceylon), where I saw several haunt- 

 ing the mangrove swamps on the 4th December, the man- 

 groves being then in flower. Curiously enough I searched in 

 vain for this species day after day in the extensive cocoanut 

 plantations of Malacca aud its neighbourhood, and other locali- 

 ties intervening between Copah aud Singapore. 



Further north again, on the 18th of November, I saw a pair 

 of this species, and shot the female, as usual feeding on cocoanut 

 flowers, at the north-western corner of the island of Patoe, 

 immediately opposite of Mergui. Later I obtained a male at 

 Malewoon in a mangrove swamp. 



At Singapore it was, excluding Anthreptes malaccensis, the 

 most common Sunbird. All that has been said of the habits of 

 JE. cara would equally apply to this species, but its note differs 

 considerably, being a sharper one, sounding like the word, chin, 

 chin, chin, very often repeated. — W. D.] 



We only procured a single pair of this species in Tenasserim, 

 a male at Malewoon in April, a female at Patoe Island in the 

 Mergui Harbour in November, seeing the male at the same time ; 

 but Davison shot and preserved between sixty and seventy speci- 

 mens in the Malay Peninsula, and I am therefore able to give the 

 dimensions of a very large series of measurements recorded in 

 the flesh :— 



Males. — Length, 5*25 to 5-75 ; expanse, 7-35 to 7'75 ; tail from 

 vent, 2 to 275; wing, 235 to 2-5 ; tarsus, 05 to 0*6 ; bill from 

 gape, 0*8 to 09 • weight, 0'35 to 0*4 oz. 



Females. — Length, 4*85 to 5*25 ; expanse, 6*75 to 7*12; tail from 

 vent, 1-75 to 1-95 ■ wing, 2'12 to 2*35 ; tarsus, 0-5 to 0-55; bill 

 from gape, 0'8 to 0-85 ; weight, 0"25 to 033 oz. 



The legs and feet are black or bluish black ; the bill black ; 

 the irides dark brown. 



Mr. Gould, B. of Asia, Pt. XIX, PI. 6, figures what I suppose 

 to be this same species, but he omits, alike in the plate and 

 in the description, the most characteristic feature in the bird's 



