Birds of Celebes: Nectariniidae. 453 



feathered, no nasal or rictal bristles; wing moderate, first primary generally 

 small; tail never forked, either square, rounded, graduated, or with the two 

 middle feathers much lengthened; tarsus and toes moderate. 



Capt. Shelley (1876 — 1880) recognises 3 subfamilies: Neodrepaninae , with 

 "the first primary longer than the seventh and cut away on the inner web towards 

 the tip; sides of the head in adult males wattled" — consisting of a single 

 species occurring in Madagascar; Nectariniinae and Arachnothennae with the first 

 primary the shortest, and no wattles. Mr. Oates diagnoses these latter sub- 

 families as follows: — Nectariniinae: "sexes different; plumage of male in part 

 metallic; bill slender; nest pensile"; Arachnothennae: "sexes alike; plumage non- 

 metallic; bill large; nest cup-shaped, attached by a portion of the rim to a broad 

 leaf". The affinities of Promerops, included by Shelley in the family, are 

 doubtful (Newton). 



The Sun-birds inhabit the Ethiopian, Oriental, and Australian Regions. 



The males of many of the genera diifer in coloration wonderfully from 

 one another and from their females, yet the general similarity of the females 

 of these genera to one another and the correspondence of the young male with 

 the female shows that the males only have departed greatly from an original 

 type. Celebes and the satellite island-groups are peopled with 5 genera — 

 Aethopyga (Oriental — not in Australasia), Eudrepanis (Philippines and Great 

 Sangi • only) , Cyrtostomus (generally distributed among the East India Islands) , 

 Hermotimia (not found west of Celebes, the Sangi and Talaut Islands), Avthreptes 

 (Oriental , not known east of the Sula Islands and Timor). The Oriental 

 affinities of Celebes are therefore stronger in this family than the Australian, 

 3 genera being found in the Great Sunda Islands and S. E. Asia, and only 

 one, Hermotimia, being Moluccan and Papuasian; and even in this last genus 

 the Celebesian species are so closely allied to Nectarophila hasselti of Burmah to 

 Borneo that a line is drawn here only] for the sake of convenience not because 

 a sufficient natural gap is found. 



GENUS AETHOPYGA Cab. 



Distinguishable by the strongly graduated tail of the male (the two middle 

 feathers sometimes much lengthened), and by its yellow rump. 



Found from the Himalayas to the Philippines, Celebes, and Java. 



- * 179. AETHOPYGA FLAVOSTRIATA (Wall.). 



Celebes Scarlet-breasted Sun-bird. 



a. Cinnyris sp. (1) Wall., I1)is 1860, 140. 



b. Nectarinia flavostriata (I) Wall., P. Z. S. 1865, 478, pi. XXIX, fig. 2; (2) Brugg., Abh. 



Ver. Bremen V, 1876, 73; (3) Rosenb., Malay. Archip. 1878, 272. 



c. Aethopyga sp. (1) Salvad., Ibis 1865, 549. 



