NOTABLE SOUTH AFRICAN BIRDS 50 



near water, usually amid thick vegetation, they flit 

 hither and thither, sparkling flashes of colour that 

 never fail to delight the eye. Usually they build 

 in the banks of a river, or near water, some few feet 

 inwards. The European bee-eater (3 f crops ajnastcr) 

 is well known, and appears to exist chiefly on a kind 

 of wasp. The wasp or bee is invariably seized cross- 

 wise, presumably to avoid the sting, and then, after 

 a careful squeezing, is swallowed. One of the tiniest 

 and most beautiful of these birds — the rufous-winged 

 bee-eater — I found on the Botletli river, Ngamiland. 

 The colours include rich yellow on the throat, then 

 bands of bright blue, white, and black ; beneath these 

 a patch of chestnut ; green upper parts, and rufous 

 wings. The wonderful Meroi^s hullockoides, with its 

 crimson throat, green back, buff head, bright blue 

 rump, and electric-blue stomach, is another exquisite 

 species which I procured on the Limpopo ; but, 

 indeed, all are perfect marvels of colouring. 



The sun-birds, or sugar-birds as the Cape colonists 

 call them (which are the Old World representatives 

 of the New World humming-bird), are also famous 

 for their brilliant colouring and the gorgeous metallic 

 sheen of their plumage. As their colonial name 

 implies, these birds are extremely fond of sweet food, 

 which they procure, with their long, slender, curved 

 bills, from the Protea, orange-tree, and other trees 

 and shrubs which bear flowers producing saccharine 



