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EUDREPANIS PULCHERKIMA. 



(SHORT-TAILED YELLOW-BACKED SUN-BIRD.) 



JEthopyga pulcherrima, Sharpe, Nature, 3rd August, 1876, p. 297. 



S ad. supra olivaceo-viridis, uropygio lsete flavo, lateraliter fasciis duabus phimosis olivaceis celato : fronte et 

 sincipite, genis et regione parotica superiore lsete chalybeis : tectricibus alarum minimis et medianis 

 metallice chalybeo-viridibus, majoribus etiam hoc colore limbatis : remigibus saturate brunneis, olivaceo 

 marginatis : tectricibus supracaudalibus caudaque metallice chalybeo-viridibus : subtus lsete flavus, plaga 

 pectorali miniata ornatus : rostro pedibusque nigris : iride saturate brunnea. 



Hab. in insula philippinensi "Basilan" dicta. 



Adult Male. Forehead, front half of the crown, cheeks, and ear-coverts steel-blue ; back of the head and 

 neck, upper back, and scapulars olive-green ; on the middle of the back a thick tuft of loose downy 

 olive-coloured feathers, capable of covering the lower back, which is bright yellow ; upper tail-coverts 

 and a broad edging to the tail-feathers metallic bluish green ; wings dark brown, the least and median 

 series of wing- coverts and a broad edging to the greater coverts rich metallic bluish green; quills 

 margined with olive ; underparts uniform bright yellow, with the feathers on the middle of the crop 

 edged with red, forming a large, nearly circular, spot; bill and legs black; irides dark brown. Total 

 length 3 - 5 inches, culmen 0"75, wing l - 8, tail l - 05, tarsus 055. 



Hab. Island of Basilan, in the Philippine archipelago. 



This beautiful species, one of the recent novelties brought home from the Philippine Islands by 

 Dr. Steere, is closely allied in general plumage and structure to the genus ^Ethopyga, possessing, 

 as it does, the tuft of loose downy feathers on the middle of the back which partially cover the 

 yellow patch on the rump ; but it differs in possessing a short square tail, instead of the well- 

 known elongated tail of JEthopyga. It is perhaps most nearly allied to Urodrepanis christince 

 from Hainan, and appears to prove the affinity which exists between j^Ethopyga and the 

 " Nectarophila " section of the genus Cinnyris. 



Mr. Sharpe writes to me that this species should, in his opinion, certainly be placed in a 

 distinct genus, for which he proposes the following diagnosis : — 



Eudkepanis, gen. nov., affine JEthopyga sed cauda integra, breviore, et fasciis plumosis ut in genere 

 JEthopygd ad latera dorsi inferioris positis distinguendum. 



Dr. Steere during his successful travels in the Philippines collected over forty new species 

 of birds, five of which belong to the present family, thus raising the number of Sun-birds known 

 to inhabit these islands to eight, viz. the present species, JEthopyga shelleyi, 2E. magnified, Cinnyris 

 speratus, C. jugularis, Anthrepttes malaccensis, A. chlorigastra, and Arachnothera dilutior. Of the 

 present bird the type specimen alone is known, which my courteous friend Dr. Steere most kindly 

 placed at my service, and of which I have given two figures on the Plate. The type appeared to 

 be in fully adult plumage, and was in a beautiful state of preservation. 



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