322 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
The female has the whole upper plumage and wings light brown_, the 
feathers of the latter margined paler ; tail blacky the feathers tipped with 
white_, the outermost ones most so and the white occupying the terminal 
half of the outer web. Lower plumage entirely bulFy or yellowish white. 
The young male is like the female, but has a broad black streak down 
the chin and throat. 
Bill black ; iris hazel-brown ; eyelids plumbeous ; legs black ; claws 
dark horn. 
Length 4*5 inches, tail 1"5, wing 2*1, tarsus '6, bill from gape '8. The 
female is a trifle smaller. 
Birds from Burmah are remarkable for the rich tone of their coloration, 
the prevailing tint being rich violet. In India, especially in the dry north- 
western portions, the prevailing tint is rather green. 
The males of this species are said to don the female plumage in winter. 
This is not the case in Burmah ; for f ull-plumaged males may be obtained 
all the year round. I very much doubt whether any species of Cinnyris 
found in Burmah has a seasonal change of plumage ; C. flammaxillaris 
and C. asiatica certainly have not, so far as I have observed. Young 
males of the former species are clothed in female plumage all through their 
first winter; and consequently males in this plumage must necessarily be 
abundant. The same is the case, I believe, with C. asiatica. This circum- 
stance has probably given rise to the belief that these two birds have a 
seasonal change of plumage. 
The Purple Sun-bird is found over the whole of British Burmah, and 
has also been procured in Karennee by Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay. It is less 
common than C. flammaxillaris in places where the two species are found 
together. Mr. Davison states that in Tenasserim it is not found south of 
the town of Yeh, and Capt. Bingham found it commonly in the Thoung- 
yeen valley ; and I think it probable that eventually it will be found to 
extend quite to the south of Tenasserim, for it is a species of very wide 
distribution. Dr. Tiraud procured it in Cochin China. It is spread over 
the Indo-Burmese countries and over the whole peninsula of India and 
Ceylon, and it has been observed even in Persia. 
In every respect this species resembles C. flammaxillaris in habits, and 
it builds precisely the same sort of nest. The nest, however, has not yet 
been found in Burmah ; but it probably breeds from the beginning of the 
year to an advanced period of the rainy season. 
