42 



Young Male (2nd stage) . Similar to the last, but with the upper part of the head and neck more ashy ; 

 several red feathers on the wing-coverts ; centre of the breast rich yellow, slightly streaked with orange- 

 red on the crop. 



Hab. Central and Eastern Himalayas, Nepaul, Sikhim, Assam, and southward through the hilly districts of 

 Tipperah and Chittagong to Arracan. 



This graceful and beautifully coloured Sun-bird belongs to the " metallic-throated " division of 

 the JEthopygCB, and may be readily recognized by its metallic blue throat, and by the fore part 

 of the chest being yellow, by which latter character it is to be distinguished from its eastern 

 representative 2E. dabryi, with which species alone it is liable to be confounded. 



According to Messrs. Hume and Davison's notes to me, this species is " common through- 

 out the Central and Eastern Himalayas, but does not, so far as we know, extend westward of the 

 valley of the Beas. It is common about Simla, Kotegurh, and many localities in the valley of 

 the Sutlej, and thence eastwards through Gurhwal, Kumaon, Nepaul, and Sikhim into Assam ; but 

 how far eastward in Assam it advances we do not know. Southwards we have it from the 

 Khasia and Naga hills, Hill Tipperah, and the hills of Chittagong ; and it is reported from the 

 Arracan hills ; but how far south of Akiab it ranges along the Arracan yonca is still uncertain. 

 Like the other Himalayan species it is locally migratory, being found in summer up to about 

 liOOO feet, while in the cold weather it may be met with in the low valleys and in the wooded 

 tracts of the Subhimalayan dlioons and terais, which range from elevations of 700 to 1800 feet 

 above the sea-level. We have never succeeded in obtaining a nest." 



It may be observed that Dr. Jerdon was not so far wrong when (I. c.) he gave the range of 

 this species as follows — " throughout the Himalayas from Kumaon to Sikhim, and extends to 

 Assam, Sylhet, and Arracan ;" although later (Ibis, 1872, p. 16) he remarks : — " I fancy Mr. Blyth, 

 from whom I took the geographical distribution mentioned in my work, must have been misin- 

 formed on the subject. I have only found this beautiful Honey-sucker in the N.W. Himalayas, 

 in the valleys of the Sutlej and Touse rivers. Stoliczka procured it in the same locality up to 

 9000 or 10,000 feet near Chini. I did not myself observe it higher up than Nachar. As stated 

 in the ' Birds of India,' I never got it at Darjeeling ; nor have I lately seen a specimen procured 

 there, nor in any of the countries to the eastward." 



Captain Elwes, who has made some large collections in the neighbourhood of Darjeeling, 

 also never met with this bird there, although Darjeeling would appear to be quite within its 

 range. Is this to be accounted for by its partially migratory habits, shifting, as it does, from 

 one locality to another according to the flowering-season'? for it lives upon the small insects 

 which frequent the blossoms and upon the honey which those blossoms afford, so that it would 

 fare hadly if it remained stationary when the seasonal drought had parched up the country. 

 Thus we find it mentioned as only a summer visitant at Simla, where Captain Beavan found it 

 in his garden in August feeding on the flowers of the Hibiscus; Mr. W. E. Brooks mentions 

 his meeting with it in May at Danguli (between Mussoori and Gangaotri), while at Kotegurh it 

 appears to be plentiful throughout the winter. 



Mr. Gould, in his ' Birds of Asia,' writes : — " Captain Pinwill informs me that he found it 

 somewhat numerous during September near Kotegurh, and observed them feeding from the 



