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CINNYEIS NIGKISCAPULAKIS. 



(MIOSNOM BLACK SUN-BIRD.) 



Hermotimia nigriscapularis, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genova, vii. p. 937 (1875) ; id. Atti 

 R. Ace. Torino, xii. p. 308 (1877). 



S ad. niger, indigotico nitens : pileo toto nucMque metallice viridibus : scapularibus absque nigris, tectricibus 

 minimis paucis marginalibus metallice cyanescentibus viridi nitentibus : dorso postico, supracaudalibus 

 et rectricum marginibus metallice cyanescenti-viridibus : mento gulaque cbalybeis lilacino nitentibus : 

 rostro pedibusque nigris : iride saturate brunnea. 



$ ad. pileo et collo postico cinerascenti-brunneis : tergo olivaeeo : alis saturate brunneis, plumarum marginibus 

 obvaceis : cauda nigra, rectricibus externis albo terminatis : mento gulaque cinerascenti-albis : corpore 

 rebquo subtus sulfureo : subalaribus albis, sulfureo lavatis : remigibus infra brunneis, intiis versus 

 basin albidis. 



Hab. in insula Papuana "Miosnom" dicta. 



Adult Male. Black with a deep blue gloss ; forehead, crown, and nape metallic green ; wings and scapulars 

 black, witb a few only of tbe least series of coverts towards tbe angle of the wing metabic bluish green ; 

 lower half of the back, upper tail-coverts and the edges of the tad-feathers metallic bluish green ; chin 

 and throat steel-blue shaded with hlac; bill and legs black; irides dark brown. Total length 4 inches, 

 culmen 0'65, wing 2 - 4, tail 1/65, tarsus - 6. 



Adult Female. Upper part of the head and back of the neck ashy brown ; back olive ; wings dark brown, 

 with the margins of the feathers olive ; tail black, with white ends to some of the outer feathers ; chin 

 and throat ashy white ; breast and under tail-coverts sulphur-yellow ; under surface of the wings brown, 

 with the coverts and the inner margins of the qudls white, the former shaded with sulphur-yellow. 



Hab. Miosnom, an island in the Bay of Greelvink. 



The present species belongs to the second section of the "Hermotimia" group, viz. that in 

 which the metallic portions of the wings and lower back are green. This section may again be 

 split up into two divisions, viz. those species which have the scapulars and median series . of 

 wing-coverts black, and those species which have these parts metallic green. 



As belonging to the first of these subdivisions we are at present acquainted with three 

 forms — C. nigriscapularis, C. salvadorii, and C. proserpince. The first two of these differ from 

 C. proserpiiice in the metallic colours on the wings being confined to a portion only of the least 

 series of iving-coverts round the bend of the wing. From C. salvadorii the present species differs 

 in its smaller size. 



This bird was recognized as a new form by Count Salvadori after the examination of twelve 

 specimens collected by Signor Beccari in Miosnom, one of the small islands in the Bay of Geel- 



