116 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 
The year before I left India, | remember being delighted 
by an instance of the tameness of these little birds. I 
saw one on a tree close to my verandah, and wishing to 
get a better look at him, approached the edge when to. 
my astonishment, the bird began to come nearer, and 
gave me as good a view as I could have wished, seem- 
ing quite as much interested in meas I was in him. 
THE YELLOW-BREASTED OR AMETHYST-RUMPED HONEY- 
SUCKER (Arachnechthra zeylonica) resembles the previous 
bird in nesting-habits and the colour of the eggs, and is 
of about the same size, but has a smaller bill and very 
different plumage—that is in the case of the cock, the 
hens of the two species being much alike in colour. The 
cock of this species has a dark-red back and purple head 
and rump, the latter being especially brilliant; the belly 
is a beautiful yellow below the purple throat. But 
curiously enough these rich colours are only visible when 
the bird is close at hand; at a comparatively small dis- 
tance it appears simply black and white, and this is fairly 
represented by Fig. 1 of Plate III. The hen is like 
that of the last species, but has the throat white, instead 
of being all yellow below; besides which her rather 
smaller bill distinguishes her. 
The male in this species undergoes no seasonal change 
of colour, but when he has once donned his ruby and 
amethyst plumage wears it all the year round. 
This bird is confined to India and Ceylon, and even 
there has a more restricted range than the purple 
species. But it is nevertheless a very common bird 
and in Calcutta is very much more numerous than the 
