284 MISS NEWBIGIN ON THE [Feb. 18, 
First, as to the distribution of metallic colours in the two 
families—In the Sun-birds, the metallic tints are usually, though 
not invariably, confined to the male sex, and this in spite of the 
fact that the nests are domed. In the male, brilliant patches of 
colour frequently occur on the upper surface of the head and on 
the throat. Rather less frequently the contour-feathers of both 
the upper and lower surface show metallic tints (e. g., Nectarinia 
famosa). On the other hand the rectrices very frequently show a 
longitudinal band of colour, or, more rarely, the central two may 
be wholly metallic (e. g., thopyga seherie). The tail-coverts are 
frequently metallic, the wing-coverts only rarely so, and the wing- 
quills hardly ever show any metallic colouring. Thus, in general, 
the metallic tints occur on the feathers in two ways. There may 
be a broad transverse band of metallic colour occupying the whole 
of the visible part of the feather; this occurs especially on the 
head and throat, more rarely on the genera] contour-feathers. 
Again, the metallic tinting may occur as a longitudinal band of 
varying width at the edges of the feather; this is especially seen 
in the rectrices, more rarely in the case of the greater wing- 
coverts. In some cases these longitudinal bands may become so 
much widened as to oceupy the whole of the feather: this seems 
only to occur in the central rectrices. 
As to the range of metallic colour in Sun-birds, it is readily seen 
that the commonest metallic colours are green, blue, and violet ; a 
reddish violet is more uncommon, and a pure bronze-red and a golden 
yellow seem both to be absent. This last point is of interest in 
view of the fact that red and yellow (lipochrome) pigments are 
very widely spread in the family. 
In Humming-birds metallic tints occur in both sexes, but are 
usually more brilliant in the male. They very frequently occur 
on the general contour-feathers, the colour being then often a 
bronze-green, which is not sharply confined to a transverse band, 
but fades away gradually behind. The metallic colours which are 
especially characteristic of Humming-birds, however, occur, as is 
well known, in patches of extraordinary brilliancy either on the 
head as a crest, or on the lower surface, especially of the throat. 
The feathers forming these patches are peculiarly modified, and 
may display any of the colours of the spectrum including ruby-red 
and golden-yellow—the colours which are so markedly absent 
from the metallic feathers of Sun-birds. The rectrices of 
Humming-birds not infrequently display metallic colour, which 
may be distributed over the whole feather or may be limited to a 
transverse band near the tip. Longitudinal bands of metallic 
colour such as those of the Sun-birds do not seem to occur. 
Pigmental colours among Humming-birds are not remarkable 
for brightness of tint, being usually shades of grey or dull brown. 
The only marked exception is the colour called by systematists 
“rich chestnut” or “ cinnamon,” which is often limited to the 
males, as for example in Eustephanus fernandensis g. In this 
connection it may be noticed that not only are metallic tints 
