40 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on the 



loiif^ tubes, one after the other, for insects and honey. The 

 male's note is a loud " Tsiyi-tsiyi-tsiyi-tsiyi-tsi," or, occa- 

 sionally, a more liquid " Tyu-tyu-tyu, &c." On two occasions 

 I noted a pair of these birds at Chibabava, in the low veld, 

 during December and January last. Three males in imma- 

 ture plumage average 5"76 inches, and a breeding male 

 measured 61 inches in the flesh. The stomach-contents were 

 small beetles, flies, and a larva. 



64. CiNNYRis KiRKi. Kirk's Sun-bird. 



Rh., P. On my visits to the Jihu during the past year I 

 found this to be by far the commonest Sun-lnrd in the dense 

 grass-jungle of the lower elevations (2000 ft.). I have also 

 frequently noticed it in the upper Jihu and the Chikamboge 

 Valley, but in the yet higher portions of the district it can 

 hardly be described as one of our commonest Sun-birds, 

 though I have come across it not infrequently at the flowers 

 of the Proteas and Grevilleas. 



I have found only two nests of this Sun-bird ; they were 

 far more neatly and compactly built than those of either 

 C. gutturalis or C. chalt/bceus, and diff'ered from all that T 

 have found of those two species in the fact that they were 

 in each case completely suspended from a drooping twig and 

 without any side support whatsoever. One of" them was very 

 cleverly concealed behind the leaves of its supporting twig, 

 while the other, strange to say, was within five yards of a tree 

 containing an occupied nest of Aquila wahlbergi. Each nest 

 was about ten feet from the ground, and was composed almost 

 entirely of soft dry grass- blades, more or less fine and 

 cleverly interwoven, intermixed with vegetable down ; the 

 latter material, with the addition, in one case, of one or 

 two feathers, also formed the lining. The roof was built 

 internally to a large extent of veiy fine grass-stems, which 

 acted as a support to the dome, while the outside of the 

 nest w^as ornamented with large quantities of lichen and 

 a few small pieces of bark and Avood, as well as one or 

 two fine twigs. The whole was neatly braced together with 

 spiders' webs, which, hoMever, were not nearly so much in 



