124 BIRD ARCHITECTS 



rest of the shaft being bare. Length, 4| inches ; to end of 

 long tail-feathers, 12 inches. 



The Paradise Widow-Bird (Vidua jjaradisea) is also black 

 above, with a collar round the neck and the breast bright 

 chestnut-red. Total length, 14f inches. Females of both 

 these birds are brownish birds streaked with blackish. 



SUNBIRDS 



The next group of Architects is the Sunbirds (family 

 Nectarinidw), sometimes called Sugar-birds, and Zuikerbekjes 

 (Sugar-mouths) by the Boers. They live on nectar, pollen 

 and insect life. 



Perhaps the best known species is the bright metallic- 

 green Malachite Sunbird (Nectarinia famosa). with its 

 yellow shoulder (pectoral) tufts, and long tail-feathers. 

 Length of male, 9| inches ; female, 6 inches. This bird 

 changes to a dull brown colour during the winter months, 

 which is the garb of the female bird at all seasons. It is a 

 common species throughout South Africa, excepting Lower 

 Natal and Rhodesia, where it is scarce and local. In spring 

 the males may sometimes be heard indulging in a short, 

 soft song of full melodious notes. 



It builds a large pear-shaped nest of grass and fibres 

 bound with cobwebs and vegetable down, and lined with 

 hair and feathers, &c. The two eggs are of a pale brown 

 colour, closely marked with dots and blotches of dark 

 brown and greyish. 



The Bifasciated Sunbird (C. mariquensis) has the head, 

 neck, throat and back metallic-green : below the throat 

 there is a narrow cross-band of steel-blue, succeeded by a 

 much broader one of dark red ; rest of under surface black. 

 Length, 4|- inches. This bird is not found in Cape Province. 

 We observed it in pairs on the Crocodile River, north of the 



