970 Mr. BlytJis Report for December Meeting, 1842. [No. 143. 



green ; margins of the other tail-feathers similar, to a greater or less 

 extent : the rest of the wings, with the occiput, dull brownish green ; 

 and below the breast, the same but lighter : bill horn-colour at base, 

 the terminal half of the upper mandible, and nearly all the lower, paler ; 

 legs brown. " The female and young," observes Mr. Hodgson, " wear a 

 sombre russet robe instead of the naming scarlet of the male ; their cap 

 is not burnished, nor have they the splendid moustache ; and the central 

 rectrices are neither pointed nor prolonged beyond the series of the 

 rest.* Length of the male six inches, by six and a half in extent, 

 and a quarter oz. in weight." Wing from bend two inches and 

 three-eighths, and middle tail-feathers three inches : bill from fore- 

 head three-quarters of an inch, in a straight line; and tarse half 

 an inch. 



This splendid bird appears to be common in the Tenasserim pro- 

 vinces, and also in Nepal, being much rarer, or perhaps local, in central 

 and southern India. Col. Sykes, in his catalogue of the birds of the 

 Deccan, remarks, that " it inhabits only the lofty trees of the dense woods 

 of the ghats." Mr. Jerdon has not been successful in meeting with it ; 

 but Lieut. Tickell procured a single one " near Seheria in Borabhiim, 

 flitting about the low willow-bushes in the dried bed of a stream. ■ — It 

 has no song, but a shrill chirp." The description given by that gen- 

 tleman entirely accords with specimens before me, except that he 

 assigns four inches as the length, which is probably a misprint for 

 six inches. Dr. Royle figures it as one of several tropical birds that 

 visit northern India and the Himalaya during the rains, though at 

 least one of its companions in the same plate is strictly Sub-Hima- 

 layan : neither his coloured figure, however, nor that in the * Natur- 

 alist's Library,' makes any approach to the brilliancy of nature. 



1. a. N. Lathami, Jardine, Nat. Lib., Orn., Vol. XIV, 233-68. 

 " We possess a specimen of a Sun-bird from some part of Continental 



* Evidently the C. concolor of Col. Sykes's catalogue, defined as " C. viridi- 

 olivacea, alis caudague saturatioribus, corpore subtus pallidiore. Longitudo cor- 

 poris, 4 unc. ; cauda 1. Irides intense rufo-btunnece :" to which is added — "As 

 four specimens obtained by Col. Sykes were all females, and as they were met with 

 in the same locality as C. Vigorsii, C. concolor may be the female of that splendid 

 species; but the difference in the size, form, and aspect of the bird, independently of 

 colour, is opposed to this" (certainly not) : " they were never seen together. This 

 bird has the outline of C mahrattensis. The specific appellation concolor is given 

 provisionally."— P. Z. S. 1832, p. 99. 



