NECTARINIA ASIATICA. 



Asiatic Sun-Bird. 



Certhia asiatica, Lath. Ind. Orn. vol. i. p. 288.— lb. Gen. Hist. vol. iv. p. 238. 



Mahrattensis, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp. p. xxxvi. 



— chrysoptera, Lath. Ind. Orn. vol. i. p. 299. 



Grimpereau gris des Philippines, Buff. PI. Enl. 572. fig. 2.— lb. Hist. Nat. des Ois. torn. v. p. 508. 

 Certhia cirrhata, Lath. Ind. Orn. vol. i. p. 299. 



Philippensis grisea, Briss. Orn. torn. iii. p. 615. pi. xxx. fig. 1.— lb. 8vo, torn. ii. p. 5. 



- currucaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. p. 185.— lb. Gmel. Edit. torn. i. part i. p. 474.— Lath. Ind. Orn. vol.i. 

 p. 285. 



saccharina, Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. viii. p. 258. 



Cinnyris currucaria, Sykes, Proc. of Comm. of Sci. and Corr. of Zool. Soc. part ii. p. 98. 



— orientalis, Frankl. in Proc. of Comm. of Sci. and Corr. of Zool. Soc. part i. p. 122. 



Mahrattensis, Sykes in Proc. of Comm. of Sci. and Corr. of Zool. Soc. part ii. p. 99. 



Epauletta, Hodgs. in Ind. Rev. 1837, p. 272. 



Strigula, lb. in Ind. Rev. 1837, p. 272. 



Cyinnyris cyaneus, Vieill. 2de Edit, du Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. torn. xxxi. p. 494. — lb. Ency. Meth. Orn. part ii. 



p. 598. 

 Nectarinia currucaria, Vieill. Ency. Meth. Orn. part ii. p. 586. 



Mahrattensis, Vieill. Ency. Meth. Orn. part ii. p. 595. — Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 98, 



Nectarinia, sp. 51. — Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng. vol. xii. p. 978. — Gray, Cat. of Spec, and Draw, 

 of Mamm. and Birds presented to Brit. Mus. by B. H. Hodgson, Esq., p. 59. 



asiatica, Blyth, Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 224. — Jard. Nat. Lib. Orn. vol. xiii. Sun- 

 birds, pi. 24. 



Le Soui-manga azurS, Vieill. Ois. Dor. torn. ii. p. 210. 



The Purple Indian Creeper, Edw. Gleanings, p. 116. pi. 265, low. fig. 



Sugar Creeper, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp. vol. ii. p. 150. — Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. viii. p. 258. 



Mahratta Creeper, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp. vol. ii. p. 164. 



Certhia asiatica, var. A, Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. iv. p. 238. 



Le Soui-manga aux ailes jaunes, Vieill. Ois. Dor. torn. ii. p. 64. 



Yellow-winged Creeper, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp. p. 133. — Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. viii. p. 270. — Lath. Gen. Hist, 

 vol. iv. p. 250. 



Le Soui-manga d touffes jaunes, Vieill. Ois. Dor. torn. ii. p. 65. 



Tufted Creeper, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp. p. 132.- — Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. viii. p. 271 Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. iv. p. 251. 



Le Soui-manga d cravatte violette, Vieill. Ois. Dor. torn. ii. p. 35. pi. 15. 



Grey Creeper, Lath. Gen. Syn. vol. ii. p. 714. — Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. viii. p. 221. — Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. iv. p. 231. 





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This beautiful little bird is so generally dispersed over India proper, that to enumerate localities wherein it 

 may be found would be quite superfluous. I may state, however, that my son, the late Dr. J. H. Gould, 

 met with it, among other places, in Scinde, and that that country is probably the limit of its range in a 

 westerly direction. The long list of synonyms given above will show how generally it has been noticed by 

 scientific writers on natural history, and the following notes will prove that it has received equal attention 

 from the observers of Indian ornithology. The synonymy has been largely increased by the great difference 

 in the colouring of the sexes, and by the plumage of the young males varying at different periods of their 

 existence prior to assuming the livery of maturity, and by these differences having caused the older writers to 

 regard the sexes and the young in their different stages as so many distinct species. 



The late Hon. F. J. Shore killed examples of this species at Hurdwar in April, and under the date of 

 June 19 remarks, — "I find this species is common in the warmer parts of Ghurwal, and that it is also met 

 with in the warm valleys of the Himalayas, in the Western provinces, and in the Sagur and Nerbudda 

 territories. It hovers over flowers like a Humming-bird while sucking their nectar ; I have also observed 

 it on twigs destitute of flowers, engaged apparently in capturing small insects. The yellow and orange patch 



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