ey 300 
Fam. NECTARINIIDA. 
291. Promenors CAPER. Cape Long-tailed Sun-bird. 
This is one of the South African Birds which is entirely confined 
to the Cape Colony, throughout the whole of which it appears to be 
distributed ; it is abundant near Cape Town, and Captain Shelley 
found it literally swarming on the Protea bushes at Mossel Bay. 
Victorin records it from the Knysna district, but it becomes 
gradually rarer as the eastern frontier of the colony is approached. 
Mr. Rickard has procured it at Port Elizabeth, where it breeds, but 
does not stay all the year; it is common when the red Protea is in 
flower. This honey-eater differs considerably in all its habits from 
the sun-birds with which it is associated. It is generally found in 
small parties, the members of which, though acting much in concert, 
still maintain their individuality. They follow one another to 
favourite bushes, chase each other, or feed amicably side by side, 
and if one is alarmed and flies off, the rest generally follow; yet they 
cannot be called gregarious in the strict sense of the word. They 
are fond of perching on the summit of high bushes, particularly 
Proteacea, from the flowets of which they extract their food, con- 
sisting of insects, and the limpid, saccharine juice which these plants 
supply plentifully, and which will often run in a copious stream from 
the bill of a fresh-killed specimen. 
Le Vaillant’s account of the nesting habits is erroneous ; Mr. L. C. 
Layard procured a nest, which he assured us belonged to this bird, 
cup-shaped, about three inches in diameter within, composed of 
rootlets, grasses, and the spicular leaves of firs, mingled with tho 
silky, dark-orange seeds of the Protea. The single egg contained 
in it instantly reminded us of that of the Bunting of England, being 
a pale dirty cream-colour, irregularly though sparingly marked with 
wavy tracery and hair-streaks, now and then inclining to blotches of 
a dark purple-brown, or a pale indistinct purple: axis, 11”; diam., 
82”. Subsequent discoveries of nests and eggs confirm the truth of 
the above observations. We found that they bred in the months 
of May, June, and July. Mr. W. Atmore informs us that he has 
found many nests, always cup-shaped, and placed in the fork of a 
mimosa. A very good account of the habits of the present bird 
from his own personal observations will be found in Captain Shelley’s 
“ Monograph of the Sun-birds,” 
x 
