Birds of Celebes: Nectariniidae. aqq 



Celebesian genera as yet considered, the male of Cyrtostomm has departed least 

 from the female tyi)e ; the males of Hermotimia and Aethopyga are vastly diflFerent 

 from their females and must be regarded as highly specialized forms. The males 

 of Nectarophila afford transitions from Hermotimia to Cp-tostomus, while extreme 

 forms of Cyrtostomus also independently make a near approach to Hermotimia 

 (cf. C. feijsmanni). 



* 186. HERMOTIMIA SANGIRENSIS (A.B.M.). 



Sangi Black Sun-bird. 



a. Chalcostetha sangirensis (1) Meyer, Sitzb. Akad. "Wiss. Wien 1874, LXX, 124. 



b. Nectarinia duyvenbodei jiart. (1) Meyer (nee. Schl.) 1. c. a 1 (descr. $ = (^ juv.). 

 Hermotimia sangirensis (I) Salvad., Atti Ac. Sc. Tor. 1874, X, '233, pi. I, f. 2; (2) id., 



op. cit. 1877, Xn, 311, 313; (3) Meyer, Isis, Dresden 1884, 6, 37. 

 e. Hermotimia sanghirensis (1) Salvad., Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. 1876, IX, 56; (2) W. Bias., 

 Ornis 1888, 584. 



d. Cinnyris sangirensis (I) Shelley, Monogr. Nect. 97, pi. 32, f. 2, and pi. 33 (1877); (II) 



Gould, B. New Guinea HI, pi. 32 (1878). 



e. Cinnyris sanghirensis (1) Gadow, Cat. B. IX, 1884, 74; (2) Tristr., Nat. Coll. B. 1889, 215. 

 "Taramisi maitung", Great Sangi, Nat. Coll. 



"Taramisi pahopa", (J' inini. Great Sangi, iid. 



"Taramisi lana", Siao, iid. 



Figures and descriptions. Shelley d I; Gould d II; Salvadori 7, c 1; Meyer a 1; 

 Gadow e 1. 



Adult male. Like the adult male of H. porphyrolaema, but with the chin, throat and jugulum 

 coppery-bronze with a submalar strif)e of steel-blue, not violet with a similar steel- 

 blue stripe; the mantle and under surface purplish black, not jet-black washed on 

 the under-part with bMsh (t^i^e, Siao: Meyer — Nr. 13684). 



Remark. This specimen and another adult male from Siao have one or two yellow feathers 

 on the sides of the breast above the axillaries, calling to mind the pectoral tufts of 

 Cyrtostormis xenobia (Less.) of the Moluccas, teijsmatmi (Biitt.) of South Celebes, 

 Arachnechfhra htenia (Linn.) and A. asiatica (Lath.) of the Indian Region, and 

 Chalcostetha insignis (Jard.) of the Great Sunda Islands to Tenasserim. In two 

 other adult males fi'om Siao and others from Great Sangi as also in 25 adult males 

 discussed by Prof. W. Blasius (c 2) no trace of yellow pectoral tufts is to be seen. 

 The occasional presence of pectoral yellow in Siao birds seems to show it to be an 

 ancestral character in process of undergoing extinction. 



Female. Above pale olive-green, mantle and forehead greyer; quills dusky edged with 

 yellowish ohve-green; upper tail-coverts blackish; tail black tipped with white, 

 scarcely perceptible on the two central feathers, most broadly on the outermost; 

 under surface greenish yellow; brightest on the throat, more washed with oHve on 

 the breast; flanks pale olive-grey; under wing-coverts and inner edges of quills 

 belbw where they rest upon the body white; axillaries yellowish. (Tabukan, 

 [g] Meyer — C 8514.) 



Young. Like the female, but browner and greyer above; under-parts paler; bill shorter and 

 straighter. (Siao — Nr. 8516.) 



Immature male. Like the adult female, submalar stripe steel-blue with an inner row of coppery 



