Birds of Celebes : Nectariniidae. 471 



"Taramisi baa", "T. maririka'" and -Tete mariri", etc. (= g and cf juv.), Nat. Coll. 



Description. M. & Wg. 1. 



Adult male. Velvety black; lesser and shorter middle wing-coverts, lower half of 

 back and upper tail-coverts metallic steel-blue; tail-feathers blue-black, with 

 broad metallic edgings of greenish steel; head above metallic greenish gold; sub- 

 malar stripe steel-blue, becoming violet on the sides of the jugulum; chin, throat 

 and jugulum metaUic pansy-purple, becoming redder and more coppery according 

 to the Hght; under-parts black, slightly washed with blue; quills below dusky. 

 Bm and feet black (type, ad. \c^\ Kabruang, 3. XL 93: Nat. Coll. — C 13138). 



Female. Above olive-green with a slight orange wash; wing-coverts and quills dusky, 

 edged with olive-green; tail-feathers bluish black, metallic at the edges, the three 

 outer pairs tipped with white, about 10 mm broad in the outermost; under-parts 

 ochre-yellow, bright orange-ochraceous on the throat and jugulum, washed with oUve- 

 grey on the flanks; under wing-coverts and inner edges of quills white; carpal 

 edge yellowish (type [Q] ad. Kabruang, 13. XI. 93: Nat. Coll — C 13145). 



Two other specimens, agreeing with the above, we regard as adult females from 

 the richness of their coloration (0 13149 and 13147). 



Judging from the good series of this species and sangirensis in the Dresden 

 Museum, we find that the orange-colour on the throat is less strongly expressed in 

 the female of H. sangirensis, from which that of H. talautensis is further distinguishable 

 by its larger size and the olive-green, washed with orange, of its upper surface. 



Young. A specimen with a rather shorter bill is similar to what we describe as the adult 

 female; head and mantle a little greyer (Kabruang, 13150). 



Three other specimens (immature females?) have the bill as long as in the adult, 

 the throat whitish yellow, the breast greener, the head above in two cases a shade 

 browner than in the adult female (Kabruang, C 13148 and 13153, Salibabu, C 13156). 



Immature male. Five specimens, like the adult female, the throat washed with orange in two, 

 in the other three not. All specimens with a steel-blue submalar stripe hke that of 

 the old male, but not continued (as violet) down the sides of the jugulum also. The 

 feathers of male matm-ity sprout at different times and parts of the body, varying in 

 individuals and apparently following no rule of development. Thus, in one specunen 

 (Kaliruang, C 13146) there is a single steel-blue feather in the wing-coverts of the right 

 wing and a few black feathers on the right side of the mantle and middle of upper 

 breast; a second (Kabruang, C 13144) has some green-gold feathers on the occiput, 

 one or two steel-blue ones on the upper tail-coverts, and one or more black ones on 

 the breast, tail apparently adult; a third (Sahbabu, C 13155) has only a few green- 

 gold feathers on the occiput, and an adult tail. 



Measurements (7 adult males). Wing 64— 68 mm; tail 42 — 45; bill from nostril 14.5 — 16; 

 tarsus 16 ca. 



(3 adult ? females). Wing 60—64; tail 38 ca.; bill from nostril 14—15.5. The 

 specimen described as young has the wing 58, bill fr. n. 13; the thi-ee specimens without 

 orange on the throat: wing 58 — 59, bill fr. n. 14.5 — 16. 

 Distribution. TaLaut Islands : Kabruang, Karkellang, and Salibabu (Nat. Coll. in Dresd. and 

 Tring Museums). 



Numerous examples of this species were obtained in October — November, 

 1893, in the above island of the Talaut-group by native hunters in our employ, 

 and again in the 1894 and 1896. In coloration — though not in geographical 

 location — the adult male is intermediate between H. sangirensis of the Sangi 



