474 
Birds of Celebes: Nectariniidae. 
ences of age, it is nevertheless practically certain that the almost nnnoticeable 
marks of distinction which separate the Banka and Sangi birds will prove to 
fall within the extremes of individual variation of the races in either locality. 
'I'he gap may be further filled up if the islands intermediate between Banka 
and Siao, i. e. Biarro and Tagulandang harbour this species. Links also be- 
tween Anthreptes malaccensis celebensis and A. malaccensis — chlorigaster are pretty 
sure to be found in some of the Philippines. Sooloo furnishes birds between 
the typical malaccensis and chlorigaster ■. “Professor Blasius has referred the Sula 
bird to A. chlorigaster, and Dr. Guillemard to A. malaccensis. The specimens 
now sent by Mr. Everett appear to me to belong to the latter species. One 
specimen from Tawi Tawi is very like A. chlarigaster, but another from the same 
island cannot be distinguished from A. malaccensis'^ (Sharpe, Ibis 1894, 251). 
Here we see a case in which authorities find themselves, for want of a satisfying 
principle of nomenclature, compelled to call the same thing by different names, 
and we pity the feelings of a future writer on the history of the birds of Sooloo 
who — if he uphold binomial nomenclature unchanged — has to make up 
his mind which name to adopt. The name Anthreptes malaccensis — chlorigaster 
(Scop. — Sharpe) cannot offend any one except by its length. If it be ob- 
jected that the Sooloo birds have really rather more to do with the typical 
malaccensis than with chlorigaster, then the sign A. malaccensis'^ chlorigaster or, 
if they approach most nearly to chlorigaster, the sig-n A. malaccensis chlorigaster 
wall seiwe to define them — the angle denoting something intermediate, its 
base being turned in the direction of the subspecies with which it has most in 
common, and its point in the direction of the other subspecies towards which 
its development tends. Not having sufficient material to take into full con- 
sideration the typical malaccensis, its racial variation in the direction of Flores 
and Sumba^), and all the forms interconnecting it with chlorigaster, and with 
only one specimen each (if correctly determined) of the species or subspecies 
A. griseigulaiis Tweedd. (Siquijor Id., North of Mindanao) and A. rhodolaema 
Shelley (Sumatra), we restrict this article to the two forms A. malaccensis celebensis 
and A. malaccensis chlorigaster. 
The following is a general description of the species.- 
Anthreptes malaccensis (Scop.). 
Adult male. Head above, bind neck and lower sides of neck, and mantle metallic 
bottle-green, with or vathout a violet gloss; lesser wing-coverts, lower half of 
back and upper tail-coverts glossy violet-blue (Royal purple); tail-feathers 
dusky, with metallic edges; quills dusky; lores, sides of head and upper sides 
of neck, middle and greater wing-coverts and edges of quills ofive-green; a 
long submalar stripe metallic violet-blue, more bottle-green near base of bill; 
*) That most conscientious worker, Mr. Hartert, finds himself reduced to calling the Bali bird .1. 
malaccensis, the Suinbawa. bird A. malaccensis cTilorogaster, and the Sumba one A. malaccensis celebensisl (Nov. 
Zool. 1896, 545, 567, 581). 
