ANTHREPTES. 
141 
rinicB we find some with the short hill of Diceum, 
as N. easndiocephala, and others with long and 
curved hills, as N. cyanea , &c. ; by the first of these 
modifications in the hill, the passage is opened from 
Diceum to Nectarinea , while by the latter the 
union is no less perfectly affected between Necta- 
rinea and Anthreptes. In both these latter, the 
form of the hill is very nearly the same, for however 
they differ in other respects, the under mandible of 
both possess that strength of structure we have 
already explained, and which at once separates 
both groups from the type of the whole family, 
Cinnyris. 
Such are the affinities of the primary groups or 
genera of the family of sunbirds, the detailed 
characters of which will be given in our general 
introduction to this science*. 
The geographic distribution of these genera is 
altogether peculiar, each being no less characterized 
in this manner, than by its particularity of structure. 
Cinnyris is entirely confined to the Old World, 
and seems to have its metropolis within the tropics 
of Africa and continental India. Anthreptes, from 
what we yet know, is very rare in Africa, where 
one species only has been discovered ; nor are we 
yet acquainted with any from continental India. 
In the islands, however, of that ocean, laying be- 
tween the Asiatic and the Australian range, nearly 
all those with which we are yet acquainted are 
* On the Natural History and Classification of Birds, vol. ii. 
part of the series of Dr. Lardncr’s Cabinet Cyclopedia. 
