THE FIRE-BREASTED ELOWERPECKER. 
337 
Messrs. Mottley and Dillwyn c.) give an interesting account of the 
conduct of a young bird of this species in captivity. The nest as described 
by them appears to be of the type usually constructed by the birds of this 
genus. 
f 
Genus MYZANTHE, Hodgs. 
319. MYZANTHE laNIPECTUS. 
THE FIRE-BREASTED ELOWERPECKER. 
Myzanthe ignipectus, Hodgs. J. A. 8. B. xii. p. 983 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 377 ; 
Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii. pt. ii. p. 24 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 159 ; Wald. in 
Bl. B. Burm. p. 143 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 84 ; Hume Sf Dav. S. F. vi. p. 200 ; 
Hume, S, F. viii. p. 90 ; Scully, S. F. viii. p. 261. 
Description. — Male. The whole upper plumage metallic green or metallic 
blue^ according to the way the light falls ; median and greater coverts and 
tertiaries brown_, edged with the colour of the back ; primaries and 
secondaries dark brown^ very indistinctly edged with blue ; tail black, 
glossed with blue ; sides of the head brown ; sides of the neck like the back ; 
lower plumage buff, washed with green on the sides of the body ; the greater 
portion of the breast vermilion; under wing-coverts and axillaries pure 
white. 
The female is olive-green above, tinged with ashy on the head ; the tail 
is dark brown ; the lower plumage buff; the wings and coverts brown, 
edged with the colour of the back. 
The young male, according to Dr. Stoliczka, is green above, all the 
•feathers tipped with fulvous, and the throat is whiter than in the old bird. 
Bill black ; irides brown or blackish brown ; feet and claws dull or 
brownish black. The female had the base of the lower mandible plumbeous. 
{Scully.) 
Length 3*2 inches, tail 1, wing 1*9, tarsus '5, bill from gape '4. The 
female is smaller. 
The Fire-breasted Flowerpecker was procured by Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay 
in Karennee at an elevation of 4000 feet. It was also obtained by Mr. 
Davison near the summit of Mooleyit mountain in Tenasserim. 
It occurs in the hill-tracts of Eastern Bengal and in the Himalayas from 
Bhootan up to the Sutlej river. Mr. Swinhoe procured it in the Fokein 
province in China. 
Mr. Davison states that this species has the same habits as the birds 
of the preceding genus. The nest is said to be a pendent structure, pyri- 
form in shape, Avith an opening near the top. 
VOL. I. Z 
