116 GARDEN AND AVIAP.Y BIRDS. 



my astonishment, the bird began to come nearer, and 

 gave me as good a view as I could have wished, seeming 

 quite as miich interested in me as I was in him. 



The Yellow-breasted or Amethyst-rumped Honey- 

 sucker (Arachnechthra zeylonica) resembles the previous 

 bird in nesting-habits and the colour of the eggs, and is 

 of about the same size, but has a smaller bill and very 

 different plumage — that is in the case of the cock, the 

 hens of the two species being much alike in colour. The 

 cock of this species has a dark-red back and purple head 

 and rump, the latter being especially brilliant ; the belly 

 is a beautiful yellow below the purple throat. But 

 curiously enough these rich colours are only visible when 

 the bird is close at hand ; at a comparatively small distance 

 it appears simply black and white, and this is fairly 

 represented by Fig. 1 of Plate III. The lien is like that 

 of the last species, but has the throat white, instead of 

 being all yellow below ; besides which her rather smaller 

 bill distinguishes her. 



The male in this species undergoes no seasonal change 

 of colour, but when he has once donned his ruby and 

 amethyst plumage wears it all the year round. 



This bird is confined to India and Ceylon, and even 

 there has a more restricted range than the ])urple species. 

 But it is nevei'theless a very common bird, and in Calcutta 

 is very much more numerous than the other. It is more 

 sociable than this, and commonly goes about in pairs. 

 It is also a livelier bird, continually flicking up its wings, 

 and uttering a pretty little note like " chi-chit, chit-te- 

 wce ;" but the male does not seem to be so good a songster^ 



