VAN HASSELTS SUN-BIRD. 
319 
deep black ; the wing-coverts near the edge of the wing, scapulars^ lower 
back, rump and upper tail- coverts brilliant purplish blue ; primaries and 
secondaries brownish black ; under wing-coverts deep black ; throat and 
fore neck brilliant amethystine-purple; breast and upper abdomen rich 
red ; lower abdomen, sides of the body, vent and under tail-coverts dull 
greyish black ; tail brilliant purplish black. 
Female. Forehead and crown grey, the feathers dark- centred and edged 
with green ; remainder of the upper plumage with the lesser wing-coverts 
and scapulars pale greenish yellow, the feathers of the rump, upper tail- 
coverts, lesser wing-coverts and scapulars darker centred; greater coverts 
dark brown edged with greenish ; quills dark brown edged exteriorly with 
cinnamon-yellow ; throat yellowish white ; the feathers round the eye, the 
lores, ear- coverts, sides of the neck and the upper breast dull greenish 
yellow ; lower breast, abdomen, vent and sides of the body pure yellow ; 
under wing-coverts yellowish white ; under tail-coverts paler ; tail black, 
edged near the base with cinnamon and tipped with white, the outermost 
pair being nearly entirely whitish. 
Bill dark brown ; the gape and mouth cinnamon-red ; iris dark hazel ; 
eyelids plumbeous ; legs black; claws brown. 
Length 4 inches, tail 1*2, wing 1*95, tarsus '45, bill from gape '65. The 
female is smaller. 
Van Hasselt^s Sun-bird seems to be sparingly distributed over most 
parts of British Burmah. Mr. Blyth received specimens collected in 
Arrakan. I have met with it not unfrequently in Pegu in the immediate 
neighbourhood of the town of that name and also at Kyeikpadein. I also 
found it in the hills north of Pegu Town for a distance of ten or twenty 
miles, and it is probably spread over the whole range of the Pegu hills. 
Mr. Davison observed it in Tenasserim from Moulmein down to Malewoon, 
and it became commoner as he proceeded south. 
To the north of Burmah it ranges as far as Tipperah, and to the south 
down the Malay peninsula into the islands of Sumatra, Java and Borneo. 
This species is found chiefly in open jungle and gardens, wandering 
about from shrub to shrub. Those I had the opportunity of observing 
were engaged in searching the leaves for insects. The nest of this bird, as 
described by Capt. Shelley, is so similar to that of C. flammaxillaris that 
no separate description appears necessary. The nest of this bird does not, 
however, appear to have a portico over the entrance-hole. 
