SUN-BIRDS. 



537 



And, inclcetl, if it be admissible to sjieak of 'representative' families of the two 

 beuiispiieres, the sun-birds ' reiircseiit,' in the Old World, the hummers of the New. 

 Uniform as is their structure, their coloration is as varied and brilliant as that of any 

 other family, but their habits are said to be so alike that the biography of one species 

 will answer for that of the rest. To give an idea of their habits we select a few ab- 

 stracts of Jerdon's account of the common Indian purple sun-bird ( Cimiyris asiatica) : — 

 " This bird, like the others of its tribe, has a feeble but sweet chirping note. It 

 feeds partly on the nectar of flowers, but a good deal on insects, small cicadellie, flies, 

 spiders, etc. It occasionally hovers in the air before a flower whilst extracting the 

 honey, but generally hops about and clings to the smaller twigs and flowering branches. 

 I have occasionally seen it snaj) at an insect in the air. ^Vhilst feeding it frequently 



Fig, :iC7. — Certh'm j'am'tliaris, commou creeper. 



opens and closes its wings. A jiair built tlieir nest just outside my house door at Jalna. 

 It was eonunenced on a thick spider's web, by attaching to it various fragments of pa- 

 per, cloth, straw, grass, and other substances, till it had secured a firm liold of the twig 

 to which the spider's web adhered, and the nest suspended on this was then completed 

 by adding otlier fragments of the same materials. The entrance was at one side, near 

 the to]., and Iiail a slightly projecting roof or awning over it. Tiie female laid two 

 eggs of a greenish-gray tinge, with dusky spots." 



The s]>eeies figured is the metallic sun-iiird (Xwtaruiia metaUlai) from North- 

 eastern Africa. It is colurcl as follows: head, neck and mantle deep metallic green, 

 rest of b.ick, the rump, and a crescent bordering tlie green of tiie throat, brilliant deep 

 purplish blue; rest .«f \inderparts gamboge yellow, but iindt-r tail-coverts nearly white. 

 The female is plain, ].ale earthy brown above, ]y.\\r yellowish l)eneath. 



