96 CHALCOMITRA GUTTURALIS. 



perhaps it may be that the male loses his fine plumage during 

 this period. The nest is generally supported among small 

 twigs 10 or 15 feet from the ground, and is somewhat untidy 

 in appearance, being almost identical with that of C. chahjbeus ; 

 it is domed and porched, and is composed of grass and fibres 

 intermixed with down and a few dead leaves, the whole being 

 bound together with spiders' web, and the inside lined with 

 fine grass and dowu. The eggs (075 by - 55 inch) are two in 

 number, of a pale olive ground colour, spotted, streaked and 

 pencilled with dark Vandyke brown and with underlying 

 splashes and blotches, some of the marking being collected 

 in an irregular zone round the larger end, and occasionally a 

 good deal suffused. I do not recollect hearing this species 

 sing, but it possesses a very loud chirp, which is often uttered 

 with almost monotonous iteration." 



Along the Zambesi Mr. Boyd Alexander " first met with 

 this species near a little village called Chia. A narrow strip of 

 tall orange red flowering plants, not far from the river, at- 

 tracted a great number of these birds as well as large flocks of 

 Weavers. We found it easy to obtain our specimens, in fact, 

 it was difficult to drive the birds away from this clump of 

 flowering weed, while from time to time they took refuge in 

 a neighbouring thick-leaved tree. The flight is jerky and 

 erratic, and the note, often uttered on the wing, loud for the 

 size of the bird, resembling a rapid rendering of the Green- 

 finch's call. We found these Sunbirds in colonies along the 

 river; their distribution, however, depended to a great extent 

 upon flowering plants and acacias, whose blossoms they are 

 extremely fond of. The distribution was decidedly local, and 

 from the time we left the locality of one colony till we came 

 across another, hardly an individual was observed. 



" Regarding their habits : they are rarely found very far 

 away from water, in fact, more than once we observed a party 



