Novelties. — JEthopyga Nicoharica. 413 



Strait, dividing the great and little Nicobars, and on Meroe, 

 another smaller island belonging, like the former, to the southern 

 groups of the Nicobars. On the former island they were very 

 numerous. Mr. Davison who saw more of this species than I did, 

 gives me the following remarks in regard to it : 



" It frequents the tops of the cocoanut palms in company with 

 A. pectoralis, diligently searching among the flowers, now 

 hanging head down, now poising itself in front of the flowers, 

 and occasionally making a short hurried sally, apparently after 

 some insect. I shot several specimens on some low flowering 

 shrubs. It has a short, feeble twittering song which the male 

 utters every now and then. Dr. Stoliczka shewed me a nest of 

 this bird which he had found : it was fastened to the very end of 

 a long narrow pandanus leaf, about thirty feet from the ground : it 

 could not be got at by climbing, and I tried to cut it down by 

 firing at the leaf, about a foot above the nest, but failed." 



The chief characteristic of this- species is its large bill ; it is 

 not a much bigger bird than the Malaccan ^lJioj)yga to which 

 type it belongs, as having the blue forehead and tail instead 

 of green as in miles and Vigor si, but it has a bill nearly as large 

 as that of the latter species. 



At fii'st I was disposed to think that this bird might be the 

 true sijMvaja of Rafiles ; but it appears to me on tl^e whole 

 unlikely that this should be the case. jEthopygas from 

 Wellesley Province, Penang, Malacca, Java, and Borneo appear to 

 be undistinguishable, and under these circumstances it seems, 

 prima facie, more likely that the Sumatran bird should belong to 

 that same species than that it should be identical with the honey- 

 sucker of the comparatively isolated Nicobars. 



It may be convenient for comparison to give the exact 

 measurements taken from the flesh of some nearly allied 

 species. 



M. ViGORSi, male, length, 5"75-6; expanse, 7-7"5; wing, 

 2-5-2-65 ; tail, 2-2-87 ; tarsus, 0-62-0-66 ; bill, at front, 0-71-0-87. 



Female, length, 5 ; expanse, 6"63 ; wing, 2'3 ; tail, 1*63 ; tarsus, 

 0-62; bill, at front, 0-71. 



Mi. MILES, male, length, 6"38-6 5 ; expanse, 6*5-7'13; wing, 

 2-35-2-4; tail, 3-3-25; tarsus, 0-56-0-6; bill, at front, 0-75-0-8. 



Female, length, 4-5; expanse 6-5; wing, 2-02; tail, 1-63; 

 tarsus, 0-55; bill, at front, 0-7. 



In both these species the color of the bill, legs, and feet in both 

 sexes is identical, and in neither have the females any red about 

 the throat, or breast. 



tEthopyga? (Javan specimen,) male, length, 4-33; wirig, 

 1-71 i tail; 2; tarsus, 0-49; bill; at front; 0-51. 



