PROMEROPS CAFER. 163 



their company, they alone kept in small troops which 

 "followed their leader" from bush to bush, after the manner 

 of the Colies, or of our European Long-tailed Tits. At such 

 times their note is frequently heard; this assembly call has 

 nothing musical in it, but is quaint, if not actually pleasing. 



Dr. Stark writes : " The Cape Long-tailed Sugar-bird is 

 rarely found at any great distance from its favourite protea- 

 bushes, but in districts where these shrubs grow luxuriantly 

 these birds are frequently very numerous, and generally 

 resident. When not resting they are usually met with in 

 flocks of a dozen or more, busily engaged in hunting through 

 a thicket of proteas in search of nectar and various small 

 insects. 



" When sucking up the nectar of one of the larger protea- 

 blossoms, the bird perches on the edge of the flower, plunges 

 its long bill and the greater part of its head downwards 

 among the petals, and retains it in this position until satisfied. 

 As a result the narrow, shaft-like feathers of the forehead 

 frequently become saturated and stained with juice, and dusted 

 over with pollen, and it is probable that this bird plays an 

 important part in the cross-fertilisation of several species of 

 Protea. At times these Sugar-birds feed on the saccharine 

 juices of the aloe, the Cape honeysuckle, and several of the 

 larger heaths, as well as on spiders, small beetles, and a 

 variety of smaller insects. They are expert fly-catchers, 

 darting upon passing insects from their perch, and rarely 

 missing their mark. 



" Towards the end of April, or beginning of May, the males, 

 when not feeding, fighting, or chasing one another with shrill 

 cries, may be usually seen perched on the summit of some 

 prominent bush or young pine tree, their long, flexible, and 

 curved central tail-feathers blowing about in the wind, often 

 in a reversed curve over the bird's head. At intervals one of 



