NECTARINIID.E. 11 



They are all active and graceful birds with sweet little 

 voices, are not strictly speaking migratory nor gregarious, 

 yet frequently shift their quarters for more flowery localities 

 according to the season, and consequently often assemble in 

 considei'able numbers of many species together. 



The males are rather pugnacious during the nuptial season, 

 at which time they are adorned in their most brilliant colours. 

 After the breeding season the metallic colours are generally 

 discarded for a plainer garb much resembling that of the 

 female, but that is not the case with all the species. 



All the members of this family appear to construct very 

 similar nests which they suspend from twigs or leaves, 

 generally on the outside of bushes near the ground, and 

 rarely at any great distance from water. The nest is of an 

 oval form with a hole at the side towards the upper end, 

 and is often overhung by a hood or portico. It is a neat 

 structure generally composed of grass and root-fibres, often 

 intermixed with dry leaves, lichen, shreds of bark and seed- 

 down or feathers, and thickly lined with the softer materials. 

 Spiders' webs are often much used in the structure, and fre- 

 quently gives it the appearance of a mass of debris drifted 

 together by the wind. They lay from two to five eggs in a 

 nest. 



KEY TO THE SUBFAMILIES. 



a. Wing with the first long primary suloated ; 



tail short, rounded, less than half the length 

 of the wing and not longer than the culmen ; 

 bill long, slender, much curved and not 

 serrated. Adult males have a large bare 

 wattle round the eye Neodrepanin.e. 



b. Wing with the first long primary entire ; tail 



more than half the length of the wing, and 

 longer than the culmen ; bill finely serrated 

 along the cutting edges. No bare wattles 

 on the head Nectariniin.i:. 



