

NECTARINIA FAMOSA. 



Nectarinia famosa. 



19 



Nectarinia famosa (Linn.), Shelley, Mon. Nect. p. 13, pi. 5 (1876) ; 

 Sharpe in Oates' Matabele, p. 310 (1881) ; Butler, Feilden and 

 Eeid, Zool. 1882, p. 246 Natal; Gadow, Cat. B. M. ix. p. 5 (1884, 

 pt. S. Air.) ; Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p. 330 Orange Free, State ; 

 Distant, Naturalist in Transvaal, p. 167 (1892) ; Kusehel, J. f. 0. 

 1895, p. 346 (egg) ; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 7 (1896) ; Woodward, 

 Ibis, 1897, p. 409 Zululand; Sharpe, t. c. p. 506 Zululand. 



Adult Male. Metallic green, with bright yellow pectoral tufts ; wings 

 and tail black. Total length 92 inches, culmen 1*3, wing 3'15, tail 5, 

 tarsus 0-7. Drakensberg, S 19. 12. 73 (T. E. Buckley). 



Adult Female. Above olive shaded brown, wings darker, tail black with 

 narrow white ends to the feathers ; a broad eyebrow and cheek-band buff. 

 Beneath very pale ashy brown slightly washed with yellow and whitish 

 towards the abdomen. Total length 5-5 inches, culmen T2, wing 2-75, 

 tail 2-05, tarsus 0-65. Cape Town, ? 13. 2. 74 (Shelley). 



The Southern Malachite Sunbird ranges over the 

 southern portion of the African continent to as far north 

 as Namaqualand and the Limpopo River. 



Throughout its range it is generally, but not evenly, 

 distributed, for it prefers the more open ground to the forest 

 districts. 



Andersson found the species abundant in Little Namaqua- 

 land, but rare to the north of the Orange River, in Great 

 Namaqualand. "It is," he informs us, " usually found per- 

 manently established where it has once taken up its abode." 



Layard calls it common throughout Cape Colony, and 

 during the month of February I had frequent opportunities 

 of watching these bold and active birds, at Cape Town, 

 Mossel Bay, and Port Elizabeth ; but all the males at that 

 season had to some extent lost their breeding plumage, which 

 apparently only lasts from about September to January. 



Messrs. Butler, Feilden and Reid found them by far the 

 commonest species of Sunbirds in the Newcastle district, 



