

2G 



? ad. subtus ut in mare colorata sed dilutior : supra viridescens : pileo et facie laterali magis cinerascentibus : 

 tectricibus alarum majoribus, remigibus et rectricibus olivascenti-flavo marginatis. 



Hab. in regione Indo-sinensi et in regione Iiido-Malayana. 



Adult Male. Upper parts rich metallic green, including the least and median series of wing-coverts and 

 broad margins to the greater wing-coverts and tail-feathers; remainder of the wings and tail black, the 

 quills more or less glossed with metallic violet on their outer webs ; sides of the head, including the 

 upper eyelid, ruby-copper, margined beneath by a band of metallic lilac, shaded with steel-blue; the 

 feathers in front of the eye and the front of the cheeks black; chin, throat, and front of the chest 

 fawn-colour; remainder of the under surface of the body and the under tail-coverts yellow, slightly 

 tinted with olive, excepting on the pectoral tufts ; under surface of the wings black, with the inner 

 margins of the quills and the coverts white, the latter slightly shaded with yellow. Total length 

 4'2 inches, culmen 0'5, wing 2*1, tail T75, tarsus 0'65. 



Adult Female. Upper parts, including the least and median series of wing-coverts ash-brown, strongly 

 shaded with olive-green, especially on the crown, mantle, and lower back ; upper tail-coverts entirely 

 olive-green ; remainder of the wings and the tail dark brown, with broad olive-yellow margins to the 

 greater wing-coverts, quills, and tail-feathers; sides of the head similar in colour to the back, but 

 rather more ashy ; the underparts are similar to those of the adult male, excepting that the fawn- 

 colour on the throat is paler and more buff, and does not extend so far onto the chest. Total length 

 36 inches, culmen 05, wing 2, tail 1*6, tarsus 06. 



Hab. Bhootan, Assam, Silhet, Tipperah, Arracan, Southern Pegu, Tenasserim, Malay peninsula, Sumatra, 

 Java, and Borneo. 



It appears to be generally allowed that the time has arrived for rejecting names founded evidently 

 upon an error in locality. I therefore adopt Temminck's title of phosnicotis for this species 

 instead of the older one of singalensis given to it by Gmelin under the erroneous impression that 

 the bird came from Ceylon. 



This beautiful species may be readily distinguished by its small size and short, straight bill, 

 and the rufous colouring of the throat and front of the breast in both sexes. It is the only 

 eastern Sun-bird in which the entire upper parts, in the male, are metallic green ; and another 

 unmistakable character is the ruby copper-colour of the sides of the head, a character which 

 suggested the appropriate title of phcenicotis. 



Messrs. Hume and Davison write to me : — " The most northern point from which this 

 species has been obtained is the Bhootan Doars; thence it stretches southward along the 

 Brahmapootra, and thence eastward across into Assam, the Khasia hills, Myman Sing, Sylhet, 

 Cachar, Dacca, Tipperah, Chittagong, Arracan, and Pegu — avoiding, however, the dry northern 

 portion of the latter province, but being common enough about Rangoon and the neighbour- 

 hood of Sittang, where Mr. Oates has found it breeding, and has taken many nests, — throughout 

 the entire length of Tenasserim from Tonghoo to the Pakchan, and thence southward throughout 

 the Malay peninsula to Jahore and Singapore. 



" It is common in the lower portion of Pegu, about Moulmein, and southward to the 

 Pakchan estuary; but it is much rarer both to the north and south of this tract of country, 

 which appears to be (on the mainland, at any rate) its head quarters. 



