CATALOGUE. 
745 
m. n. Adult. Kumaon. Presented by Capt. R. Strachey. 
0. Drawing. From Heyne's Collection. 
Mr. Blyth states (J. A. S. Beng. XII. p. 978) : " I lately procured 
the young of this species, which is dark olive-green above, and 
tolerably bright yellow on the under-parts ; wings dusky, with brown- 
ish margins to the tertials ; and tail black, its exterior feathers tipped 
with whitish, and the outermost pair largely so, extending far up 
their outer webs. To this plumage would succeed the purple breed- 
ing dress ; and the Cin. strigula, Hodgson, would seem to be founded 
on a specimen which had begun to throw out the purple feathers as 
' a long central stripe from chin to breast,' just as is shown by a 
specimen before me, which, however, is moulting into the purple garb 
from the non-breeding livery of the adult, this last being, I appre- 
hend, Mr. Hodgson's female strigula. The following is that natu- 
ralist's description: * Above dark olive-green, below bright yellow; 
shoulders, and a long central stripe from chin to breast, brilliant deep 
blue ; alar and caudal plumes dusky or black, the latter tipped and 
margined laterally in the extremes with white ; a paler line over the 
eyes, and darker one through them ; bill dusky, legs black. Female 
earthy-brown above, and greenish-yellow below : she is without gular 
stripe or shoulder-spot. Size and characters of N. mahrattensis.^ 
" This species visits the neighbourhood of Calcutta only in the cold 
season, when it is not uncommon. On its arrival, both sexes are 
clad in the plumage referred to A^. currucaria by Sykes ; and before 
they leave, all have more or less completely assumed their nuptial 
dress, which is alike in both sexes. In Nepal it is probably a summer 
visitant only ; and it extends westward to the Indus, and southward 
to Ceylon, and eastward to Arracan." 
" This appears to be the most generally spread of all the Nectarinice, 
and is the only one I have met with in the bare table-land of penin- 
sular India. I have lately (February) seen the nest of this pretty 
little bird close to a house in Jaulnah. It was commenced on a thick 
spider's web, by attaching to it various fragments of paper, cloth, 
straw, grass, and other substances, tiU it had secured a firm hold of 
the twig to which the web adhered, and the nest suspended on this 
w^as then completed by adding other fragments of the same materials. 
The hole is at one side, near the top, and has a slight projecting roof 
or awning over it. The female laid two eggs, of a greenish-grey 
tinge, spotted with dusky. The first nest it made was accidentally 
destroyed after two eggs had been laid, and the couple immediately 
