" In its habits this species differs conspicuously from all its congeners, reminding one very 

 much of the ' White-eye ' (Zosterops palpebrosus), or, again, of Cyanoderma erythropterum. 



" Excepting perhaps during the breeding-season, it goes about in small parties of from five 

 to ten amongst the undergrowth or the skirts of the forest, or in the shrub jungle, hunting 

 amongst the foliage and roots of the trees for insects, on which it chiefly subsists, keeping up the 

 while an incessant twittering. 



" Of other species of Sun-birds a dozen, or even at times fifty, may be seen about a single 

 tree ; but in the case of these there is never any concerted action between more than a single 

 pair. They do not go about in flocks, though many individuals may happen to collect in a 

 single place ; but the present species, when not breeding, is almost always seen in flocks working 

 together in concert, invariably moving away from one place to another at the same time, and 

 hunting, some high and some low, just as a mob of our Titmice on the Himalayas may often be 

 seen doing. 



"Male. Length 4 r 25 to 4-62 inches, expanse 6-75 to 7, tail from vent T5 to 1-75, wing 

 2 to 212, tarsus 0-62 to 0-75, bill from gape 0-6 to 0-62, weight 0-25 to 0-3 ounce. 



"Female. Length 4 - 25 to 4*3 inches, expanse 6 - 5 to 6 - 75, tail 1-6, wing T82 to 2T2, tarsus 

 0:6 to 0-62, bill from gape 0-55 to 0-6. 



" The legs and feet are dark brownish green, or greenish horn-colour, the feet sometimes 

 paler, the claws dirty green ; the bill black, or dark horny brown, paler at the angle of the 

 gonys, the gape yellowish, the base sometimes reddish brown ; the irides in some dark brown, 

 in others crimson-lake : this, as in Anthreptes malaccensis, is not dependent, apparently, either on 

 sex or age." 



Mr. Hume writes (Str. F. 1875, p. 86): — "It is very common in the Tipperah district, from 

 whence, as well as from Malacca, Tenasserim, Dacca, and Assam, I have received many 

 specimens." 



Mr. Oates writes to me that this bird is common throughout Lower Pegu ; and, according to 

 Mr. Blyth, it appears also to be common at Singapore. 



It has been recorded by both Temminck and S. Muller from Sumatra and Java, and in the 

 former island has recently been collected by Mr. E. C. Buxton in the district of Lampong. 



It is apparently spread throughout Borneo, having been collected by Mr. Motley at Banjer- 

 massing, by Doria and Beccari at Sarawak, and by Messrs. Everett, Low, and Governor Ussher 

 along the north-west coast, whence I received the specimens here figured and described. 



In Labuan, according to Messrs. Motley and Dillwyn, " these birds are usually seen in small 

 flocks, and frequent tall Casuarince, among which they busy themselves running about, up and 

 down the branches, like Tits ; their note is a shrill chirp. The stomachs of the specimens we 

 have obtained were completely crammed with the pollen of the Casuarina" 



With regard to its domestic economy, Mr. Oates writes: — "This Sun-bird appears to nidi- 

 ficate from the middle of May to about the end of July. On the 3rd June I found a nest with 

 two eggs nearly hatched. It was suspended from a branch of a mango-tree, about twenty feet 

 from the ground, and well surrounded by leaves. On the 25th June another nest was found, 

 from which the young had apparently just flown. It was about eight feet from the ground. On 

 July 6th a nest, with two nearly fresh eggs, was discovered hanging on a shrub about four feet 



