252 NECTARINIIDiE. 



called Island of Kai'anja, where the bird is not uncommon, I have 

 been on the watch for its nest. It is a permanent resident, fre- 

 quenting the sides of the hills, and incessantly uttering the loud 

 cheery note which serves at once to distinguish it from the other 

 members of its family. It seems fonder of flowers than either 

 A. asiatica or A. znjlonica, and often hovers over them like a 

 hawk-moth, inserting its long tongue. 



" In October I suspected strongly that a pair had a nest some- 

 where in a well-wooded slope close to my house, but I did not 

 succeed in finding it. Later on I saw a pair followed by two 

 voung ones, and my heart sank within me. But the birds them- 

 selves came to the aid of science, and, about the beginning of 

 November, made a beautiful nest in the middle of a small tree 

 close to my verandah. I had to watch it carefully, for there was a 

 pair of A. zeylonica in the garden. However, the birds were not 

 shy, and I soon had abundance of opportunity of assuring myself 

 about the ownership of the nest. As I frequently saw the female 

 going in and out, I concluded the eggs were not yet laid ; so I 

 waited a week, and then one morning I \\ent cautiously up and 

 touched the nests with a long stick. In a moment the bird darted 

 out and flew round and round me, screaming and calling all the 

 birds of the neighbourhood together. It is one of my rules not to 

 take nests in my own garden, but on this occasion I thought the 

 rule would be more honoured in the breach than the observance, 

 so I mounted a chair and cut the nest down. AVhat was my 

 horror on discovering that it contained one egg and one young one, 

 just hatched. I plunged the other egg at once into cold water, 

 and left it in for fi\'e miiuites in order to kill the- chick, if there 

 should be one. Alas I next evening, thirty-six hours after, this 

 egg too was broken, and a little naked thing was struggling to get 

 out. I have, therefore, only the broken shell of one egg and the 

 nest for my spoil. The nest, as you see, is remarkably long, 

 measuring fully 10 inches. Otherwise it is very similar to that of 

 A. zeylonica, having the entrance near the top protected by a 

 portico. It is constructed of fine fibres and grass, and covered 

 all over with small pieces of bark and other rubbish, chiefly that 

 fa\ ourite material with all Sun-birds, the woody refuse with which 

 w ood-boring caterpillars cover the entrances of their holes. 



" The egg is not an ornamental one. The ground-colour is a dirty 

 brownish white, the smaller end being thickly covered \\'ith dull 

 brown spots, which pass into larger confluent blotches and form a 

 cap on the other end." 



Arachnechthra asiatica (Lath.). The Purple Stin-bird. 



Arachnechthra asiatica (Lath.), Jerd. B. Tn<l. i, p. :370 ; Hiune, 



Rouyh Draff N. ^- E. no. 2:34. 

 Araflmechtlua intermedia, Hume ; Hume llom/h Draft N. cV E. 



no. 234 bis. 



The Purple Sun-bird lays at very different periods of the year 



