_Myzomela_ (18 sp.), has the widest range, extending from Celebes to the Samoa Islands, and to Timor and Eastern Australia; _Entomophila_ (4 sp.), Australia and New Guinea; _Gliciphila_ (10 sp.), Australia, Timor, New Guinea, and New Caledonia; _Acanthorhynchus_ (2 sp.), Australia and Tasmania; Meliphaga (1 sp.), Australia; _Ptilotis_ (40 sp.), Gilolo and Lombok to Australia and Tasmania, and to the Samoa and Tonga Islands; _Meliornis_ (5 sp.), Australia and Tasmania; _Prosthemadera_ (1 sp.), _Pogonornis_ (1 sp.), New Zealand; _Anthornis_ (4 sp.), New Zealand and Chatham Islands; _Anthochæra_ (4 sp.), Australia and Tasmania; {276}_Xanthotis_ (4 sp.), Papuan Islands and Australia; _Leptornis_ (2 sp.), Samoa Islands and New Caledonia; _Philemon_ = _Tropidorhyncus_ (18 sp.), Moluccas and Lombok to New Guinea, Australia, Tasmania and New Caledonia; _Entomiza_ (2 sp.), Australia; _Manorhina_ (5 sp.), Australia and Tasmania; _Euthyrhynchus_ (3 sp.), New Guinea; _Melirrhophetes_ (2 sp.), New Guinea; _Melidectes_ (1 sp.), New Guinea; _Melipotes_ (1 sp.), New Guinea; _Melithreptus_ (8 sp.), New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania; (397) _Moho_ (3 sp.), Sandwich Islands; _Chætoptila_ (1 sp.), Sandwich Islands. FAMILY 23.--NECTARINIIDÆ. (11 Genera, 122 Species.) GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. __________________________________/\__________________________________ / \ NEOTROPICAL| NEARCTIC |PALÆARCTIC | ETHIOPIAN | ORIENTAL | AUSTRALIAN SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS. -----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------ | | | | | -- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|-- 2 -- -- |1. 2. 3. 4 |1. 2. 3. 4 |1. 2 -- -- | | | | | The Nectariniidæ, or Sun-birds, form a rather extensive group of insectivorous honey-suckers, often adorned with brilliant metallic plumage, and bearing a superficial resemblance to the American humming-birds, although not in any way related to them. They abound in the Ethiopian, Oriental, and Australian regions, as far east as New Ireland, and south to Queensland, while one species inhabits the hot Jordan Valley in the Palæarctic region. For the Eastern genera I follow Lord Walden's classification (Ibis, 1870); the African species not having been so carefully studied are mostly placed in one genus. The genera adopted are as follows:--