CHALCOMITRA GUTTAraLIS. 97 



of these Sunbirds hovering to and fro over the river itself, 

 catching insects. When not breeding, the males generally 

 travel from one spot to another without the company of the 

 females. During the heat of the day, when all other birds 

 have hidden themselves iu the depths of the wood, they are 

 abroad, seeming to take a delight in the intense heat, always 

 most active, while it is only in the early morning and evening 

 that they take a rest from their labours and retire into the 

 thick under- cover. 



" As the pairing season approaches, the male never leaves 

 the side of his mate, and when courting her has a quaint way 

 of swaying his body from side to side as if it was on a pivot 

 right in front of her gaze. Moreover, he is constantly singing 

 to her, uttering his song from the topmost twig of some tall 

 acacia tree, while the notes both in tone and rendering are by 

 no means unpleasant, and closely resemble those of the Lesser 

 Redpole (Acantliis rufescens). "When feeding off the buds of a 

 tree this Sunbird generally attacks the buds from some con- 

 venient branch above, to which it hangs all the time by its feet, 

 or it will give a great stretch forward in order to bring a bud 

 within its reach. 



" Above Zumbo, near the river, we discovered a nest of this 

 species on December 21. It was oval-shaped and attached to 

 three slender branches of an acacia tree, and about twenty feet 

 up. The structure was flimsy and untidy, made of fine grass 

 interwoven with fragments of skeleton leaves, cobwebs and 

 cocoons, and lined with the fluffy down of some weed. The 

 depth of the nest was three inches, the circular entrance being 

 about an inch from the top, the hole running perpendicularly 

 down. Not a yard away from this nest was a nest of bees. 

 We noticed that the pair of our birds constantly made use of 

 these bees as guides to some rich flower store in the vicinity ; 

 the male frequently followed the course of the bees, and more 



[June, 1899. 7 



