92 



strongly shaded with olive, and the metallic parts are beginning to appear on the crown, tail, and sides 

 of the throat. 



Hab. Celebes. 



The members of the " Black " group, separated by many authors from Cinnyris under the generic 

 title Ilermotimia, form a very natural division of the Sun-birds. The metallic portions of their 

 plumage are confined to the crown, throat, wing-coverts, scapulars, lower back, and margins of 

 the tail-feathers ; and in these characters, as well as from the frontal feathers extending onto the 

 membrane which covers the nostrils, they are closely allied to the " Nectarophila" group — but 

 may be readily distinguished from that section by the larger size, especially of their bills and 

 tails, and by their general black coloration. The only exception to this rule is found in the 

 present species (C. grayi), which is slightly aberrant in its style of coloration. 



The above-named groups inhabit distinctly different areas, the Hermotimice being restricted 

 to the Celebean and Papuan subregions. 



The present group may with advantage be further divided into two sections : — 



1st. Those species with the metallic portions of the wings and lower back steel-blue. 

 2nd. Those species with the above-named parts of the plumage metallic green (often more 

 or less shaded with blue). 



The first of these sections, to which the present species belongs, is restricted to the Celebean 

 subregion and to the Northern Moluccas. 



From the other members of this section the birds restricted to the Celebes and Sanghir 

 islands are distinguished by having their metallic throats margined on each side by a sharply 

 defined steel-blue band, and by the median series of wing-coverts and the greater portion of the 

 scapulars being non-metallic. The present species may be readily distinguished by the red 

 colour of the upper back and front of the chest. 



On account of the red colouring, it has been placed by some naturalists in Reichenbach's 

 genus Nectarophila, which constitutes my second group of the genus Cinnyris; but I do not 

 consider this to be its natural position, as it agrees perfectly with the members of the present 

 section in its general structure, especially in the form and length of the bill and tail. 



It is entirely confined to the island of Celebes, where it has been collected at Tondano 

 and Menado by Mr. Wallace, who named this bird in honour of the late Mr. G. R. Gray. 

 Dr. Briiggemann (I. c.) describes the female and young male as similar in plumage, " with the 

 upper parts olive-green, and the underparts sulphur-yellow; the wings dark brown with bright 

 olive-green margins to the feathers ; the tail black, with the two outer feathers with white tips." 

 He further observes that during the time the young bird gradually attains its brilliant plumage it 

 undergoes a remarkable change, the upper part of the head being then ashy grey and the throat 

 white. 



I have examined three fully plumaged males, two males in partial moult, one young male, 

 and two adult females. The specimen which I have here figured and described as the adult 

 female is the only one of these in which the sex is not indicated on the label ; but in the British 

 Museum there are two specimens collected by Mr. Wallace at Menado. one being labelled 

 " female " and the other " young male :" the former agrees perfectly with the specimen I have 



