972 Mr. Blytlts Report for December Meeting, 1842. [No. 143. 



2. N, ignicauda ; Cinnyris ignicauda, Hodgson, Ind. Rev. 1837, 

 p. 273: C. rubricaudaia, Nobis, mentioned in J. A, S. XI, 192: 

 N. phcenicura, Jardine, Nat. Libr. Mr. Hodgson thus describes this 

 species, in its post-nuptial garb, certain species of Sun-birds being 

 well known to assume a dull-coloured plumage after breeding. " Above, 

 olive-green ; beneath, together with the rump, yellow : chin, cheeks, 

 and front of the neck, blue-grey with a greenish wash ; breast dashed 

 with fiery-red ; caudal plumes and their upper coverts intense igneous - 

 red ; remiges and rectrices, internally, dusky-brown : seven inches 

 long, whereof the tail is three inches and three-quarters, its two 

 central plumes passing the rest by an inch and three-quarters : weight 

 half an oz., or considerably larger than most of the others. The female 

 is smaller, and has her caudal plumes of the same hue with the body 

 above, and merely fringed with fiery-red ; but the coverts are igneous, 

 and the breast is touched with fire, as in the male : the tail wants the 

 prolonged plumes of the male, as in all the long-tailed species. 



" C. ignicauda is distinguished, specifically, by the comparative 

 straightness of its bill, which is, indeed, distinctly curved, but less so 

 than in the allied species ; it scarcely reaches the average excess of the 

 genus, or one- third more than the head." 



A male and female have recently been sent by Mr. Hodgson, the 

 medial tail-feathers of the former being no less than five inches in 

 length. It otherwise agrees with the above description, except that 

 the olive-green plumage of the upper-parts is not completely put forth, 

 several brilliant red old feathers being intermixed with it. I have 

 now no doubt of its identity with my C. rubricaudaia, of which I took 

 the following description from a Darjeeling specimen. Upper-parts 

 as in N. Gouldii, except that the tail-coverts are scarlet, and the long 

 middle tail-feathers crimson, the crown also being violet unmixed 

 with lake-purple ; and under-plumage resembling that of N. Nipalensis, 

 but having more reddish flame-colour, and less diffused, on the centre 

 of the breast, while the throat and fore-neck have no greenish gloss, 

 but are intensely rich dark shining purple along the middle, and bril- 

 liant violet laterally. No painting could express the splendour of this 

 magnificent species. The back is of a burnished and richer crimson 

 than that of N, Goalpariensis, or of N. Gouldii, from both of which 

 this species differs in possessing none on the smaller coverts of the 



