2oG 



laterali brunnea : genis et corpore subtus sordide flavis, gula magia brunnescente : subalaribns et 

 remigum margine interno albidis. 



Hab. in Africa occidentals 



Adult Male. Upper parts metallic green with a coppery bronze reflection ; forehead and front half of the 

 crown metallic bluish violet; wings dark brown, with narrow pale edges to the quills and greater 

 coverts, least and median series of coverts metallic green like the back ; upper tail-coverts shaded with 

 steel-blue; tail black, the feathers narrowly edged with metallic bluish-green, and with narrow pale 

 ends to a few of the outer feathers, becoming white on their inner webs ; feathers in front of the eye 

 black; cheeks metallic violet, gradually shading off into blue and green; chin and upper throat black, 

 with steel-blue edges to the feathers, which colour gradually passes into metallic bluish-green on the 

 centre of the throat, and then expands into a broad metallic violet breast-band, followed by a partial 

 black band separating the metallic colours from the buff of the breast, thighs, and under tail-coverts ; 

 pectoral tufts sulphur-yellow, strongly mottled with orange-red; under surface of the wings dark 

 brown, with the inner margins of the quills and the coverts white, the latter shading into dark brown 

 along the bend of the wing ; bill and legs black ; irides dark brown. Total length 3'6 inches, culmen 

 065, wing l - 95, tail 1*45, tarsus 0'55. 



Adult Female. Upper parts ashy brown, as well as the sides of the head and neck ; wings brown, with paler 

 edges to the feathers ; upper tail-coverts dark brown ; tail brownish black, the feathers narrowly edged 

 with glossy olive, a few of the outer feathers with narrow pale ends, becoming white on their inner 

 webs; cheeks and undcrparts buffish white, witli a slightly more yellow shade down the centre of the 

 breast ; under surface of the wings brown, with the inner margins of the quills and the coverts white ; 

 bill and legs black; irides dark brown. Total length 3'8 inches, culmen 0"6, wing l - 85, tail 1*2, 

 tarsus 055. 



Hab. West Africa. 



Tins species belongs to the " pale metallic" group ; that is to say, it has the upper parts metallic 

 and the breast pale, in this instance buff — a character by which the species may be most readily 

 distinguished. It is so closely allied to C. affinis of North-eastern Africa, that, although we 

 shall describe that bird by simply pointing out its distinctions from the present species, we think 

 it best also here to remark upon those characters. 



The Little Buff-breasted Sun-bird is exclusively confined to the west coast, while C. affinis is 

 only found in the north-eastern division of the African continent ; for we presume the Nectarinia 

 affinis, Bouvier, should be referred to the present bird, founded, we believe, upon a specimen 

 of this species in which the breast is strongly shaded with yellow. A specimen of this form I 

 now have before me from Bissao. It is in immature plumage ; but its measurements agree with 

 those above given for this species, and it also presents the following specific characters, which 

 are, perhaps, the ones most to be relied upon : — Thighs buff, not dark brown as in C. affinis ; 

 under wing-coverts white, not shaded with ash as in the north-eastern representative species. 



As a general rule, however, the buff colour of the breast, combined with the pale yellow and 

 orange-red pectoral tufts, are the most strongly marked characters ; but in this species the pectoral 

 tufts are not constant in their colouring, being occasionally uniform pale sulphur-yellow, when 

 the species somewhat approaches C. talatala, but is always distinguished from that bird by the 

 metallic violet forehead ; and, besides, the breast is never white. 



