t^ BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



family that I have seen. Eggs, 3 — 5, minutely mottled grey-brown : 

 axis, 8'"; diam., 5^'". I can confirm the statements of my corres- 

 pondents, having myself taken nests of this species containing eggs 

 and young birds. They are not, however, always pendant, being 

 sometimes supported by twigs interwoven with their structure. They 

 are usually composed of cob-web, stuck over with bits of dead leaves, 

 or chips of thin bark, always placed on the outside of a bush, never 

 among the branches. I have, however, seen one placed on the side of 

 a bush close to a rock, so that the bird had to fly round the bush to 

 get at it. In appearance they exactly resemble the masses made and 

 collected by one of our commonest spiders; and I have more than once 

 seen an inhabited spider's-web forming part and parcel of the nest. 

 Whether the nest was built in the web, or whether the spider 

 found it a convenient place and selected it herself, or was brought with 

 a bit of web by the birds, and then took up her abode and enlarged it, 

 I cannot tell ; but there the incongruous allies lived, and each brought 

 up her own biood, or would have done so, had not I harried them both. 



123. Nectarinia Afra. (Linn.) Ed. Birds, pi. 347 ; 



Cinnyris Smaragdinus, Vieil. ; Certhia Scarlatina, 

 Sparm. ; Gerthia Erythrogaster, Shaw ; G. Pectoralis, 

 Le Sucrier d plastrou rouge, Le Vail., PI. 300, f. 1, 2. 



Head, back, and breast metallic-green, blue, and bronze-shot ; 

 rump blue ; wings and tail brown ; below the green of the 

 breast is a narrow blue collar, succeeded by a broad red one, 

 which extends nearly all over the stomach ; vent brown ; 

 bright yellow tufts on each side. Length, 5|" ; wing, 2f" 

 nearly; tail, 2" 3'"; bill, U", curved. 



This bird never visits the neighbourhood of Cape Town. It replaces 

 N. Chalybea in the forest districts, but about Swellendam it is mingled 

 with it, and keeps to the wooded river banks. At the Knysna it is 

 abundant, and has the same habits as N. Chalybea, being only perhaps 

 rather more shy. Le Yaillant states that it bu.ilds in the fork of a 

 tree, and lays ibur or five eggs, which are dotted with fawn-colour on 

 a bluish-white ground. 



124. Nectarinia Verroxii. (Smith.) Ginnyris 



Verroxii, Smith, Zool. S. A., PI. 57 ; Jardine's Sun- 

 birds, PI. 9. 



Ahove brownish ; head, upper, and lateral parts of neck, 

 back, and shoulders, dark bluish-green, with a strong metallic 

 lustre ; wings and tail brown ; under parts yellowish- grey ; 

 tufts under the wings pale, brilliant scarlet. Total length, 

 nearly 6" ; wing, 2|". 



Rare. Inhabits ".Kafirland and the country eastward of it, towards 

 Port Natal." " Like the other species of the group, it feeds upon 



