NEW SPECIES OP CINNYRIS INHABITING NEPAL. 
273 
the latter tipped and margined laterally in 
the extremes, with white ; a paler line oyer 
the eyes, and darker one through them ; bill 
dusky ; legs black. The female is earthy 
brown above, and greenish yellow below. 
She is without gular stripe or shoulder spot. 
Size of the last and characters the same. 
Section with long wedged tails. 
4th species. — Miles nobis. Military 
Sun bird, nob. Top of the head, upper tail 
coverts, and tail, metallic green, changing 
to violet ; rest of head, whole neck, breast, 
back, and shoulders, intense crimson-scar- 
let ; rump, bright yellow ; body below, and 
inferior wing and tail coverts, sordid 
greenish ; remiges and rectrices, internally 
dusky ; the former, rufously edged ; long 
coverts, the same ; a long hiacynthine stripe 
from the base of the lower mandible down 
either side the neck ; bill conspicuously 
arched ; tail as long as the body, gradated 
throughout ; the two central feathers, nar- 
row, pointed, and exceeding the rest by 
nearly an inch ; wings gradated as in the 1st 
species ; 4th or 5th quill longest, six in- 
ches long, whereof the tail is three width 
6f, and weight oz. 
The female and young wear a sombre 
russet robe instead of the flaming scarlet of 
the male ; their cap is not burnished, nor 
have they the splendid mustache ; and the 
central rectrices are neither pointed nor pro- 
longed beyond the series of the rest. 
5th species. — Nipalensis nobis. Intire 
head with the whole neck near it, the up- 
per tail coverts and caudal plumes, black 
merged externally in an intense metallic 
green gloss changing to blue ; superior and 
inferior glossed surfaces of the head and 
neck, divided by an unglossed band passing 
through eye and ear from the bill ; bottom 
of the dorsal neck and top of the back, 
sanguineous lake colour ; central and largest 
portion of the back, with the wings, and 
their coverts, rufo-flavescent olive green ; 
lower back, rump, and the bodybelow, with 
imal neck and breast, bright yellow, tinted 
igneous on the breast ; lateral tail feathers 
frequently albescent at their tips ; remiges, 
internally dusky; legs fleshy brown; bill 
black. {Size and characters of the last. The 
female somewhat less. Above, olive green 
with a luteous rufous smear ; below, paler 
and yellower : her tail shorter and less 
pointed. The young males, earthy brown 
on all the glossed parts of the mature males. 
So also in miles, and (as 1 suspect) in ail 
the gorgeous species. 
6th species. — Saturata nobis. Black with 
pale green belly, vent, and under tail co- 
verts ; the black ground colour overlaid ou 
the cap, mustache, upper tail coverts, and 
central caudal plumes, by a splendid metallic 
blue gloss, changing to violet and hyacinth ; 
and on the whole top of the back and bot- 
tom of the dorsal neck by an unglossed 
sanguine lake dye (the imperial purple of 
old Rome) ; across the lower back, a nar- 
row greenish yellow band ; lining of the 
wings and quills basally on the lower sur- 
face, albescents ; bill, glossy black ; legs, 
dusky. Size and characters of the last ; but 
the tail yet more elongated, longer than the 
body, and its two central plumes exceeding 
the rest by as much again as their length. 
6 inches long where of the tail is ; width 
7 inches ; weight f oz. 
7th species. — Ignicauda. Fire tail, nobis. 
Above, olive green ; beneath, together with 
the rump, yellow : chin, cheeks, and front 
of the neck, blue grey with a greenish wash; 
breast dashed with fiery red ; caudal plumes 
and their upper coverts intense igneous red ; 
remiges and rectrices, internally, dusky 
brown ; lining of the wings pale green yel- 
low ; bill black ; legs dusky brown ; seven 
inches long whereof the tail is 3f , its two 
central plumes passing the rest by 1| inch. 
Weighty oz, or considerably larger than 
most of the others. The female is smaller, 
and has her caudal plumes concolorous with 
the body above and merely fringed with 
fiery red ; but the coverts are igneous, and 
the breast is touched with fire, as in the 
male. The tail wants the prolonged plumes 
of the male, as in all the preceding long-tail- 
ed species. Ignicauda is distinguished spe- 
cifically for the comparative straightness of 
its bill, which is, indeed, distinctly curved, 
but less so than in any of the above species, 
save the first, wherein, however, the distinc- 
tive feature of the bill is elongation, not 
straightness. In magna, the rostrum is more 
than double the length of the head ; in igni- 
cauda it scarcely reaches the average excess 
of the genus, or one-third more than the 
head. 
N. B. In all the above species the iris is 
brown, more or less dark. 
Remarks. — These elegant little birds are 
very common in all parts of Nepal ; nor are 
they any where migratory. Hereafter I 
hope to throw some light on their habits 
and manners, and meanwhile shall only ob- 
serve that I entirely doubt their alleged 
nectarinarian diet : I conceive too that the 
characters of the genus as, given in the 
Genezoology (Shaw XIV. 229), want revi- 
sion ; ‘ pollux gracilis, in particular, being 
the very opposite of correctness. 
The Cinnyris Gouldioe of the Century of 
Himalayan Birds is, I suspect, meant for 
our Nipalensis ; but, if so, the description 
is very inaccurate, necnon the drawings. In 
saturata, indeed, the mantle is almost 
hollyw sanguine; but in Nipalensis it is 
