SQ1 



JITHOPYGA NICOBARICA. 



(NICOBAR YELLOW-BACKED SUN-BIRD.) 



Mhopyga nicobarica, Hume, Str. F. 1873, p. 412; 1874, pp. 80, 85, 101, 196. 



£ ad. similis JE. siparajce seel rostro longiore et fortiore distinguendus. 



2 ad. similis fceminse JS. siparaja sed gutture rubro conspicue lavato distingueuda. 



Hab. in insulis Nicobaricis. 



Adult Male. Similar in plumage to M. siparaja; but distinguished from that bird by the greater length 

 and strength of the bill. Total length 4'3 inches, culmen 075, wing 2*1, tail 2, tarsus 0'55. 



Adult Female. Upper parts olive, including the least and median series of wing-coverts ; remainder of the 

 wings dark brown, the feathers margined with olive ; tail brownish black, the feathers margined with 

 olive, and some of the outer ones with rather paler ends ; sides of the head olive, of a dusky shade in 

 front of the eyes, and rather yellower on the cheeks ; under surface of the body pale olive-yellow ; chin 

 and throat very strongly shaded with brick-red ; under surface of the wings dark brown, with the 

 inner margins of the quills and the coverts white. Total length 3"8 inches, culmen 0'65, wing 19, 

 tail l - 6, tarsus 0'5. 



Hab. Nicobar Islands. 



The present species is a native of the Nicobars, a small group of islands in the Bay of Bengal, 

 off the north-west extremity of Sumatra. 



The only character which we observe in the adult males, as distinguishing this bird from 

 JEthopyga siparaja, is the greater length and strength of the bill, — a character which in many 

 birds we should not consider to be of specific value ; but in this instance it is rendered more 

 important by the fact of the females in JE'. nicobarica and 2E. siparaja differing in the very 

 marked character of the colouring of the throat : this in the present species is strongly shaded 

 with red, as the illustrations of these sexes will clearly show. 



Mr. Hume, during his visit to the Nicobars, found these birds on the island of Kondul 

 hanging about the white flowers of some leguminous creeper ; and further specimens were 

 collected on the island of Meroe : and according to some of the expedition it was seen on the 

 island of Car Nicobar ; but no specimens were obtained there. 



The following are Mr. Davison's notes : — " It frequents the tops of the cocoanut-palms in 

 company with A. pectoralis, diligently searching among the flowers, now hanging head down? 

 now poising itself in front of the flowers, and occasionally making a short hurried sally, appa- 

 rently after some insect. I shot several specimens on some low flowering shrubs. It has a short, 

 feeble, twittering song, which the male utters every now and then. Dr. Stoliczka showed me a 

 nest of this bird which he had found : it was fastened to the very end of a long narrow pandanus- 

 leaf, about thirty feet from the ground." 



