162 PROMEROPS CAFER. 



Adult Male. Above, brown, slightly more rufous on the lanceolate 

 feathers of the crown, which are edged or tipped with brownish buff; 

 lower back and upper tail-coverts washed with olive-yellow. Cheeks and 

 upper throat white with a narrow blackish mustachial band extending 

 halfway down the sides of the throat ; lower throat and chest rufous 

 brown with broad white tips to the feathers ; abdomen paler, passing into 

 bright yellow on the vent and under tail-coverts, the latter with large 

 brown centres. Total length 19 - 5 inches, culmen 1-3, wing 4, tail 14, 

 tarsus 0-95. Cape Town, 7. 2. 74 (Shelley). 



Adult Female. Like the male. Total length 15 - 7 inches, culmen 1-25, 

 wing 3-8, tail 11, tarsus 095. Cape Town, 7. 2. 74 (Shelley). 



The Cape Promerops, as this species was first called by 

 Latham in 1782, is confined to Cape Colony. 



Dr. Arthur C. Stark, our best authority upon South 

 African birds, remarks that this bird is most abundant 

 towards the south-western extremity of the Colony, becoming 

 rare to the east of Grahamstown, its range apparently 

 coinciding with that of certain sugar bushes (Proteas). 



During my short stay in the Colony I found the present 

 species common in the gardens of Cape Town, and at Mossell 

 Bay, generally in small parties, frequenting the scattered 

 bushes, into which they quickly dived if alarmed, though at 

 other times they preferred the outer twigs, especially those 

 towards the summits of the bushes. In February the Protect 

 bushes were out of bloom, and the most attractive flowers 

 were those of the tall aloes, round which these birds clustered, 

 often in company with Nectarinia famosa, their long silky 

 tails fluttering like ribands to the slightest breeze, while they 

 clung to the flowers and probed them with their long beaks 

 in search of the sweet nectar and small insects. On my 

 disturbing them they flew directly to the nearest covert to 

 hide, in long regular undulations at a few feet from the 

 ground, their long tails closed and appearing to consist of 

 a single feather. 



At this season, unlike the many Sunbirds I met with in 



