MAHRATTA SUN-BIRD. 
223 
wing-covers are steel-blue varied with green or 
purple, and in some specimens having a violet tinge 
entirely prevailing ; wings brownish black ; tail 
black feathers edged with steel-blue. The cheeks, 
chin, neck, and upper part of the breast, are of the 
same steel-blue with the upper parts, sometimes 
inclining to greenish or to violet, but on the chin 
the feathers are darker, almost black, and the fore 
part of the neck is of a deeper and more violet tint 
in some lights, showing a decided central mark run- 
ning downwards for the whole length of the gular 
patch. The remaining under parts are black, having 
the feathers of the under tail-covers edged with 
steel-blue ; but the black is separated from the 
gular patch by a narrow band of purplish red, in 
some specimens scarcely perceptible. The axillary 
tufts are king’s-yellow, overlaid by a few plumes, of 
brilliant orange-red. 
Mr. Jerdon describes the female as “ above, 
greenish brown-grey ; beneath, pale yellow; darkest 
on the throat ; tail black ; quills dusky.” 
Colonel Sykes has stated this bird to be South 
African as well as Indian, on the comparison of 
specimens from both countries..* 
* Proceed. Zool. Soc., 1835, p. iii. page 62. 
