Bi7ds of Gazaland. 37 



61. CiNNYRis vENusTUs NiAss^. Nyasaii Sun-bird. 



Cinnyris venustus niassce Reichenow, Yog. Afr. iii. p. 474. 



Rh., P. Our commonest high-veld Sun-bird excepting 

 in the Jihu, where, though still plentiful enough, it yields 

 first place to C. kirki. I have not found it in the lowlands, 

 and believe its range to be bounded to the east by the 

 Sitatonga Hills and Chimanimani Mountains, and by Mount 

 Singuno, or, at most, the Umswirizwi, to the south. Actual 

 localities where noted are Northern and Southern Melsetter, 

 throughout ; the Kurumadzi, Zona and Chinyika Rivers in 

 the Jihu; JNlaruma, Wolverhampton and the Chikamboge 

 Valley in Mafusi's; and the lower Tnyamadzi Valley : say 

 from 2000 to 6500 feet. There seems to be a probability that 

 very slight local migrations of these birds occasionally take 

 place, as Stanley wrote to me early in July stating that the 

 Sun-birds in liis neighbourhood had completely disappeared. 

 I have never noted such an occurrence myself. 



This Sun-bird breeds with us throughout the year. I have 

 found a nest containing young birds early in July by a stream 

 where frosts were of nightly occurrence, and during August 

 have noticed recently fledged broods going about with their 

 parents. The nest is of the usual Sun-bird type, narrower 

 at the top than below, and slung from an upright stem or 

 drooping twig, or placed in the centre of a thorn- hedge a 

 few feet from the ground. That in my collection is com- 

 jjosed entirely of grass-blades, both broad and narrow, and 

 fine heads and stems of grass, the latter, stripped of their 

 seeds, being brought forward together over the entrance to 

 form a brush-like porch. Dry leaves and vegetable down 

 are woven into the general structure, and the interior, 

 including the porch, in scantily lined with the latter. The 

 threshold is neatly covered with spiders' webs, which, how- 

 ever, are not much in evidence elsewhere in the construction. 

 The total depth, externally, is 5'1 inches, the depth from 

 the opening downwards 2"5 inches, front to back 2 inches, 

 diameter of entrance 1'3 inch. Both birds become much 

 excited when a nest is approached, uttering a continually- 

 repeated " Tshwec, tshwee, tshwee, &c.''' However, as is so 



