NECTARINIA GOULDIEE. 



Mrs. Gould's Sun-bird. 



Cinnyris Goiddiat, Vig. in Proc. of Comm. of Sci. and Corr. of Zool. Soc, part i. p. 44.— Gould, Cent, of Birds 



from Himal. Mount., pi. 56. 

 Nectarinia GouUia, Jard. Nat. Lib. Nect., pp. 238-269.— Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol. xii. p. 974.— Id. 



Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 233.— Gray, Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 98, Nectarinia, sp. 



65. — Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., torn. i. p. 405, Nectarinia, sp. 10. 

 Mthopyga Gouldiee, Cab. Mus. Hein., Theil. i. p. 103 (note).— Horsf. and Moore, Cat. of Birds in Mus. East-Ind. 



Comp., vol. ii. p. 733.— Jerd. Birds of India, vol. i. p. 364. 



"This beautiful species," says Sir William Jardine, in his 'Natural History of the Sun-birds,' " will stand as 

 the ornithologist's record of an accomplished artist. It was dedicated to Mrs. Gould by the friend of her 

 husband, at a time when she had shown how much could be effected by the union of taste and skill, and had 

 produced a series of ornithological figures which could vie with the best that had preceded them, and were 

 excelled only by those which appeared in her later works." 



Although nearly forty years have passed away since Mr. Vigors characterized this species, so few 

 specimens have been obtained, and so little information recorded respecting it, that its history is still 

 almost a blank. In my ' Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains,' published in 1832, I wrote as 

 follows : — " This very elegant little bird was received from the Himalayas, to which it is supposed to be 

 principally confined. The delicately formed tribe to which it belongs represent in India that equally 

 beautiful group the Humming-birds of America. Like the Trochilidce, the Cinnyridce subsist much upon 

 insects of small size, which they seek for in the centre of expanded flowers, or among the leaves of plants. 

 Little else of their habits can be stated with certainty. The Cinnyris Gouldiee is an exceedingly rare 

 species, and, as far as is yet known, the specimens now figured from are a unique addition to the treasures 

 of science." 



Since the above passage was published, Messrs. Horsfield and Moore have issued their ' Catalogue of the 

 Birds in the Museum of the East-India Company,' and Mr. Jerdon his ' Birds of India,' in both which 

 works detailed notices of the habits of the various species, where known, are given ; but even here, I regret 

 to say, the information respecting the Nectarinia Gouldiee is extremely scanty. Still they do add a little to 

 our knowledge of the subject ; and I therefore transcribe their remarks : — 



"Examples of this beautiful species were procured by Capt. Strachey, in Kumaon ; and it also inhabits 

 Sikim, Sylhet, and Arracan, and is rare at Darjeeling, where, says Mr. Blyth, it is much sought after by 

 collectors, who have currently styled it the ' Beauty of the Hills.' " 



"This Honey-sucker," says Mr. Jerdon, " is found throughout the Himalayas, from Kumaon to Sikhim, 

 and extends to Assam, Sylhet, and Arracan. I know not at what height it occurs, as I did not procure it 

 myself at Darjeeling ; but I imagine it does not ascend to a great elevation." 



Captain Stackhouse Pinwill informs me that he found the Nectarinia Gouldiee somewhat numerous during 

 the month of September near Koteghur, a few marches out of Simla, and observed them to be feeding from 

 the tubular flowers of a parasite growing in abundance on one of the Himalayan species of Quercus. The 

 females and young males were by far the most numerous, the latter frequently showing a feather or two of 

 the more brilliant parts of the plumage, while many of the old males had lost their long tail-feathers. 

 Their food consisted chiefly of honey, with the addition of a few very minute insects. 



Although my Plate bears the generic name of Nectarinia, the bird really belongs to that section of the 

 family to which the term JEthopyga has been assigned, and, together with JE. ignicauda, JE. nipalensis, and 

 a few other species, constitutes, in my opinion, a very natural division, the members of which differ 

 considerably from the flame-spotted Arachnechthrce, and equally so from those of the other genera into 

 which the old genus Nectarinia is now subdivided. 



The male has the crown of the head and nape, the centre of the throat, a spot on each side of the chest 

 near the shoulder, upper tail-coverts, and the basal half of the two central tail-feathers glossy steel-blue with 

 purple reflexions ; back and sides of the neck, back, and lesser wing-coverts deep sanguineous red ; lower 

 part of the back and under surface of the body brimstone-yellow, with numerous small streaks of orange on 

 the breast; wings pale brown, the primaries narrowly edged with yellow; tips of the central tail-feathers 

 dark brown; lateral tail-feathers brown, with a spot of dusky white on the tip of the inner web; irides 

 brown ; bill black ; legs brown. 



The female is pale olive-green above ; has the wings brown, margined with pale olive-green ; across the 

 lower part of the back a band of yellow as in the male, but less brilliant and not so well defined ; tail 

 dark brown, the lateral feathers tipped with dull white ; under surface pale olive-yellow. 



The Plate represents the two sexes, of the size of life. The plant is the Nepenthes ampullaria. 



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