THE MALACCAN BROWN-THROATED SUN-BIRD. 325 
yellow ; a stripe from the gape down the side of the throat coppery purple ; 
chin and throat cinnamon-brown ; lower plumage yellow, tinged with 
green on the flanks and vent ; under wing-coverts and axillaries yellowish 
white ; tail bluish brown, edged with metallic purple on the outer webs ; 
lesser wing-coverts brilliant purple ; median coverts and scapulars olive- 
brown, tipped with cinnamon ; greater coverts olive-brown, edged with 
cinnamon ; quills brown, edged with olive- green, with a tinge of ferru- 
ginous. 
The female has the upper plumage and the sides of the head yellowish 
green ; the ear-coverts with pale shaft-stripes ; lower plumage yellow, 
with a tinge o£ green on the sides ; tail brown, tipped very narrowly with 
whitish and edged on the outer webs with yellowish green ; wings and 
coverts dark brown, edged like the tail. 
According to Mr. Davison the legs vary a good deal, but are generally 
more or less green ; claws green ; bill dark horny brown or nearly black; 
the gape orange ; irid€s light red to dark brown. 
Length 5*2 inches, tail ]*9, wing 2*7, tarsus '6, bill from gape 'S, The 
female is rather smaller. 
There are four other species closely allied to the present one : A. rho- 
dolama occurs in Malacca and Sumatra; A. celebensis in Celebes and the 
Sula Islands; the remaining two, A. chlorigastra and A. griseigularis, are 
found in the Philippine Islands. All these are barely more than races 
of A. malaccensis and perhaps hardly worthy of separation. Capt. Shelley, 
however, gives them all the rank of species. 
The Malaccan Brown -throated Sun-bird occurs in Arrakan, according to 
Mr. Blyth ; and Mr. Hume has received specimens from Akyab in that 
Division. I have never met with it in Pegu; nor has it ever been recorded 
from any portion of this Division. In Tenasserim Mr. Davison found it 
common in the whole Division from Amherst southwards. 
It extends down the Malay peninsula, and is found in Siam and Cochin 
China. It also occurs in the islands of Sumatra, Java, Flores, Borneo and 
Palawan. 
This species, according to Mr. Davison, appears to be especially fond of 
jungle near the sea-coast. It has the usual habits of the Sun-birds, but is 
said to feed more largely on insects than on nectar. 
The nest of this bird is thus described by Capt. Shelley : — " The nest of 
this bird is oval in form, with a hole at one side near the top. It is 
rather loosely constructed of cocoanut-fibres, shreds of bark, and a few dead 
leaves, which bind together the white silk-like down of some plant-seeds, 
giving consistency to the structure, but not specially forming the lining." 
