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ANTHEEPTES ANCHIETA 



(ANCHIETA'S SUN-BIRD.) 



Nectarinia anchietce, Bocage, Jovn. Lisbon, 1878, p. 1. 



Ad. supra fuscescenti-brunneus, supracaudalibus olivaceo marginatis : alls dorso concoloribus, prinaariis pallide 

 brunneo Iimbatis : rectricibus brunneis vix olivaceo limbatis : pluuiis paucis frontalibus chalybeis : facie 

 laterali genisque dorso concoloribus : gutture et jugulo chalybeis : corpore reliquo subtus et prsepec- 

 toris lateribus sulfureis, hypoehondriis olivascentibus : pectore medio et subcaudalibus miniatis : sub- 

 alaribus flavicanti-albidis : axillaribus pallide flavis : remigibus infra cinerascentibus, intus albicantibus : 

 rostro et pedibus nigris : iride saturate brunnea. 



Hab. in prov. Bengueleusi Africa? occidentalis. 



Male. Upper parts dusky brown, as well as the sides of the head and neck ; feathers of the forehead and 

 front of the crown broadly edged with steel-blue glossed with green; lower back and upper tail-coverts 

 shaded with olive ; wings dark brown with paler brown edges to the quills ; tail-feathers dark brown 

 with very narrow pale edges; chin and throat blackish brown with broad steel-blue edges to the 

 -feathers of the throat ; chest sulphur-yellow on the sides, with a broad central band of bright scarlet ; 

 abdomen "and thighs pale olive-yellow shading into sulphur-yellow towards the centre ; under tail- 

 coverts orange-red ; under surface of the wings dark brown with pale inner margins to the quills and 

 with the coverts mottled with ashy white ; bill and legs black ; irides dark brown. Total length 

 4-6 inches, culmen 0'5, wing 2*4, tail 1-6, tarsus 07. 



Hab. Benguela. 



The straight keel to the under mandible refers this species to the genus Anthreptes ; and its very- 

 short bill is a well-marked character. The metallic portions of its plumage are confined to the 

 forehead, front half of the crown, and the throat ; a broad band down the centre of the chest, 

 and the under tail-coverts are red, and the sides of the chest bright sulphur-yellow. The speci- 

 men before me is in imperfect plumage ; but these characters would probably all remain constant 

 or but slightly modified ; and being such a well-marked species, it is never likely to be confounded 

 with any other at present known. 



A single specimen of this form was collected by Seilor Anchieta in October 1877, at 

 Caconda, in the interior of Benguela, where, according to the label, it is known to the natives 

 as "Xinjongo." The type, which I have here described, and of which I have given two figures, 

 was kindly lent to me by Professor Barboza du Bocage, who informs me that Senor Anchieta 

 has sent home in his last collection additional specimens of this species as well as of Nectarinia 

 bocagii. 



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