58G BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



"According to Mr. Rainbird, numbers of this beautiful 

 little Sun-bird may be seen, on bright mornings, among the 

 leafy tops of the mangrove-belts near Port Denison, which is 

 nearly in lat. 20° S., long. 148° E. of Greenwich. They are ever 

 darting out to capture some insect on the wing, returning 

 and disappearing again in the thick foliage, or perching upon 

 some topmost twig, to devour their captures, and show their 

 shining purple breasts glittering in the sun. During the 

 hottest part of the day the Sun -birds betake themselves to 

 the thick scrub , which in many places runs down to the 

 water's edge. They breed in the months of November and 

 December. One pair chose a little break in the scrub within 

 a few yards of the water, where, facing the rising sun, they 

 suspended their nest by the top from the dead twig of a 

 small shrub at the foot of a large 'Bottle-tree' {Sterculia 

 riipestris). The nest is of an oval form, much resembling, 

 and suspended in the same way as that of Acanthiza lineata, 

 with a small hood over the opening, which is near the top. 

 It is composed of fibrous roots and shreds of cotton-tree 

 {Gofjiphocarpiis fruticosus) bark, firmly interwoven with webs 

 and cocoons of various spiders, and a few pieces of white 

 seaweed ornamenting the outside. It is lined with feathers 

 and the silky native cotton, and is about five inches long by 

 three and a half in diameter. The eggs, I regret to say, I 

 did not receive, as Mr. Rainbird was obliged to come away 

 before they were laid." 



The male has the crown of the head and upper surface 

 olive-green ; over and under the eye two inconspicuous marks 

 of yellow ; throat and chest steel-blue ; remainder of the 

 under surface fine yellow; irides chestnut; bill and feet 

 black. 



Total length 4f inches; bill f ; wing 2|- ; tail \\; tarsi f. 



The female differs in having the whole of the under surface 

 yellow, without a trace of the steel-blue gorget so conspicuous 

 in the male. 



