130 
FIRE-BACKED SUNBIRD. 
Cinnyris erythronotus , Swains. 
PLATE XY. 
Head, neck, and breast, copper coloured ; lesser wing-covers, 
back, and rump, red glossed with purple ; wings, tail, and 
body beneath, deep black. 
Le Soui-manga rouge-dord, Vieitt. Ois. d'Or. ii. GO, pi. 27. — 
Certhia rubro-fusca, Shaw, Audorum. 
W k have very little doubt that the bird we shall 
now describe is the same as that, above referred to, 
in the splendid work of M. Yieillot ; the description 
there given, although very short, is quite applicable, 
when it is considered that the only specimen he 
saw had been injured by time and fumigation. Dr. 
Shaw merely copies Vieillot's account, and gave the 
bird the scientific name of rubro-fusca, an appella- 
tion quite erroneous, since there is no brown what- 
ever in the plilmage ; the true colour of the body, 
wings, and tail, being deep black. Two fine spe- 
cimens, sent from Senegal, enable us to describe 
its colours when in perfection. 
In size, this is the smallest species of any con- 
tained in our list, for it measures only four inches 
and three-quarters ; it is also the only one which 
does not possess any tinge or shade of green. Ne- 
