Birds of Celebes: Neotariniidae. 463 



by a narrow maroon-brown cross-bar which is somewhat paler than in C. asiaUcus; 

 breast, flanks, abdomen and under tail-coverts black with a puriDhsh gloss; 

 pectoral tufts bright yellow without any trace of orange-red; under wing-coverts 

 and thighs dusky black; bill of the same size as in C. asiaticus and C. xenobia, but 

 rather less strongly bent, black; feet black. Wing 53 mm; tail 35; tarsus 15, bill 

 fi-om front 18" (Biittik. 1. c). 



Female. "Greyish ohve above, washed with green on the rump and the margins of the quills. 

 A whitish yellow superciliary line over the eye. Beneath lemon-yellow, paler in younger 

 birds, and always paler on the throat and under tail-coverts. Under wing-coverts 

 and inner hning of wing wliitish. Outer rectrices broadly tipped with white, these 

 tips decreasing in extent towards the middle, so that the centre ones are only narrowly 

 fringed with white on the tip. Wing about 2 or 3 mm shorter than in the male" 

 (Hartert a 2). 



Distribution. Djampea and Kalao (Everett a 2), ?Bonerate (Sarasins b 1\ ?South Celebes 

 (Teijsmann a 1). 



Though the type of this species was indicated as having come froin the 

 Macassar District, it appears more probable that Teijsmann obtained it in 

 Saleyer, though indeed the bird was not sent there by Mr. A. Everett. As Mr 

 Buttikofer remarks: 



"It agrees, as to the colour of the under-surface, very much with C. asiaticus, 

 only the maroon-brown bar across the chest is somewhat paler, the abdomen 

 and under tail-coverts are less strongly glossed with purple and the orange-red 

 feathers in the pectoral tufts are wanting. But the bird cannot be an immature 

 C. asiaticus, showing no marks of any metallic gloss on its upper-surface while 

 the lower surface entirely presents the metallic plumage of the fully adult stage. 

 In the transitional stages of C. asiaticus the upper-surface, which is much paler 

 than in our C^elebean bird, always shows strong marks of metallic blue, especi- 

 ally on rump and lesser wing-coverts, long before the lower-surface has assumed 

 its full metallic plumage. This bird is rather to be placed in Capt. Shelley s 

 Cyrtostomus or olive-backed Asiatic group, in which the green-backed C. zemUa 

 from the Moluccas would be its nearest ally." 



We should say that this bird forms an approach to the Celebesian members 

 of the Hermotimia-grou]), as shown by its having a submalar stripe of a different 

 tint from the throat, and yellow pectoral tufts, which sometimes make their 

 appearance to a small extent in adult males of H. sangirensis in Siao. 



GENUS HERMOTIMIA Rchb. 



The black Sun-birds are best distinguished by their having the operculum 

 of the nostril feathered, and by their general colour of black, with metallic 

 hues of gold, purple, etc. on the head, chin, throat, rump, upper tail-coverts 

 and tail, and more or less on the lower back and wing-coverts. The tail is 

 moderate, shorter than the wing, rounded or graduated. The species are chiefly 

 Papuasian, Moluccan and Celebesian, but Chalcostetha which ranges from the 

 Sunda Islands to Tenasserim is hardly separable as a genus. 



