108 CHALCOMITRA KIRKI. 



plentiful as C. chalybeus, and " the nest, which is usually 

 suspended from a twig, is made of much the same material 

 but is neater, more compact and with less spiders' web 

 interwoven in the structure. The eggs, 0"7 by 0*5 inch, are 

 pale greenish grey, clouded streakily with very pale olive so 

 as to almost obscure the ground colour." 



Dr. Bradshaw's collection contained several unlabelled 

 specimens. To the north of the Zambesi Sir John Kirk 

 procured the type of the species, an adult male, at Shupanga 

 near where the Shire river joins the Zambesi. He informs us 

 that it is there known to the natives as " Sungwe " and adds : 

 " The Sunbirds are abundant in open ground covered with 

 flower-bearing bushes, such as Poivreas, Dalbergias, Acacias, 

 &c, and they frequent especially such plants as the Leonitis, 

 searching iuside the corolla for insects, a,nd probably sucking 

 the saccharine juices. Before the rains they lose the fine 

 plumage, and become of a dull mixed colour. December is 

 the breeding season ; nests have been observed among the 

 grass, attached to its stalks, and in the bush. The young 

 birds may be kept for some time on honey or sugar and water, 

 which they lick up greedily from a straw or the corolla of a 

 plant ; but the absence of insect food probably causes them 

 to die." 



Mr. Boyd Alexander, during his travels up the Zambesi, 

 remarks : " By no means abundant. We never met with any 

 fully adult birds, obtaining our two immature males, having 

 the metallic coloured throat of the adult, on November 12, at 

 Zumbo, and then, later on, two females as we journeyed up 

 the river." 



The late Dr. Bohm met with this species only to the east 

 of Lake Tanjanyika at Kakoma, 32° 19' E. long., its furthest 

 known western range, the species beiDg replaced to the west 

 of that lake by the bird he called C. amethystina which no 



