Gould stated that this species, illustrated for the first time, belonged to a group of sunbirds which have a beautiful flame or yellow-coloured spot on each side of the chest. The specimen in the illustration came from Penang, and was sent with other fine skins to a London fishing-tackle maker to be made into salmon flies. It was fortunate, Gould thought, that such a beautiful specimen had been spared from such an ignoble fate.
The sunbirds are depicted lifesize. The plant is Coelogyne parishii Parish's Coelogyne, adapted from the illustration by W. Fitch in Curtis's Botanical Magazine, July 1862, vol.88, pl.5323. In the finished plate by Richter another flower is placed in the foreground as indicated in pencil on the watercolour.
J. Gould, Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1865, p.663.
DISTRIBUTION: Southeastern Asia and Malayan Archipelago from southern Burma, southeastern Thailand, Cambodia, southern Vietnam, Malaya, Sumatra, Borneo, Java and adjacent islands and southwestern Philippines