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MALACHITE SUN-BIRD. 
Nectarinia famosa. 
PLATE XVII. 
The largest species of Sun-bird which is known, 
and when in its full breeding plumage, a bird of 
great splendour. In this form we have ten feathers 
in the tail, short, and nearly of equal length ; the 
centre or sixth pair being narrow and alone much 
lengthened, in the specimen before us exceeding 
the other feathers by three inches and a quarter. 
This is what the French writers term “ Queue en 
Jleche ; and in some of the smaller species the 
length beyond the short feathers is even still more 
disproportioned. The Malachite Sun-bird has been 
frequently figured, both on account of its being 
very early known, and from the splendour of its 
colours, though perhaps few figures have or ever 
will come up to the varying tints and changes 
which play upon its plumage. An adult male now 
before us is nine inches in extreme length, of winch 
the bill measures an inch and a quarter, the excess 
of the centre tail-feathers being as we mentioned 
above. The whole upper and under parts are of 
a deep Malachite green, having a play of golden 
green and reddish bronze, particularly on the head 
