1843.] Mr. BlytKs Report for December Meeting, 1842. 969 



of closed wing two inches and a quarter, and tail an inch and three- 

 quarters ; bill to frontal feathers three-eighths of an inch ; and tarse 

 eleven-sixteenths of an inch. General colour bright yellowish olive- 

 green above, and a full siskin-yellow underneath ; over each eye a 

 broad black streak reaching to the occiput, leaving the middle of the 

 head greenish, more or less flanked with ashy-grey ; tail dusky, its 

 middle feathers flanked with the hue of the back, and the inner web of 

 the outermost tail-feather white nearly throughout, as also the terminal 

 half of that of the next : some have a dull yellow cross-band on the 

 wing, formed by the tips of the coverts of the secondaries, which in 

 others is obsolete. Irides dark. Bill dusky above ; underneath, with 

 the legs, pale brownish yellow, more or less bright, and darker on toes. 

 This pretty little bird is not uncommon in the neighbourhood of 

 Calcutta during the cold season. 



Same page. Genus Cinnyris [[or rather Nectarinia, which Mr. G. R. 

 Gray, and since Sir W k Jardine, have shewn to be the prior appella- 

 tion. The volume on Sun-birds in the ' Naturalist's Library,' by the 

 latter gentleman, has just reached me, and a perusal of it has led me 

 to rewrite the remarks I had to offer on this group*]. Of the elegant 

 section with graduated tails, whereof the two middle feathers are pro- 

 longed considerably beyond the rest, the following Indian species occur. 



1. N. Goalpariensis, Jardine; Goalpara Creeper, Latham, Gen. 

 Hist. IV, p. 221, pi. XXIV; Certhia Goalpariensis, Royle, ///. Him. 

 Hot. &c. : Cinnyris Vigorsii, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 99 : N. 

 Seherice (?), Tickell, J. A. S. II, 577 : C. miles, Hodgson, Ind. Rev. 

 1837, p. 273 : erroneously, it would appear, assigned by me on former 

 occasions to N. mysticalis, Tern., vide XI, 107. A gorgeous little 

 bird, having the throat, fore-neck and breast, intensely brilliant car- 

 mine, with a glossy violet stripe on each side, from the corner of the 

 lower mandible to more than half-way down the neck : ear-coverts, 

 sides and hind-part of the neck, back, scapularies, and smaller wing- 

 coverts, a darker sanguineous : forehead and crown of the head, toge- 

 ther with the upper tail-coverts, dark shining metallic green, more or 

 less glossed with purple : rump bright yellow : middle tail-feathers ex- 

 ternally purple towards the base and at the tip, the rest shining bottle- 



* In a letter just received from the author, 2V. calcostetha of his synopsis of the 

 Nectarinidcc is identified with N. insignis. 



