PASSERINE BIRDS OF CEYLON. 1S3 



Family Nectariniid^. 



Sub-family Nectariniinse. 



Sunbirds. 



The Sunbirds are a family of small ])irds, which, in the 

 Tropics of the Old World, correspond to the Humming Birds 

 of Tropical America. Together with the next family — Dicsei- 

 dss — they are characterized by the finely serrated edges on 

 the terminal third of each mandible. The tongue is tubular ; 

 the bill long, curved, and cylindrical ; the rictal bristles 

 are short ; the wings moderate ; there are ten primaries, 

 the first being smaU ; the legs and feet are weak, the claws 

 curved and sharp. 



The sexes are markedly different ; the males are clad mainly 

 in brilliant metallic hues, the females in a more sober garb, 

 generally of pale brown above and yellow beneath. Most 

 field observers are of the oj)inion that for two or three months 

 in the year the males of most species drop their breeding 

 plumage and more or less resemble females. Gates, however, 

 after examining the large series from India in the British 

 Museum, states that this cannot be so, as the series includes 

 males, in full plumage, shot in practically every month of the 

 year, and that it is only immature males which resemble the 

 hens. His data may, however, be accounted for by the fact 

 that the oJBf-season plumage is, admittedly, worn for only 

 a short period, and that the breeding season, as often happens 

 in India, overlaps in different localities, or even in some 

 districts, with different birds. 



Sunbirds are entirely arboreal, and feed mainlj?- on nectar, 

 which they extract from blossoms with their long tongues. 

 They do not, however, hover on the wing, for sustained periods 

 while sipping, as do Humming Birds, but cling, while feeding, 

 to an adjoining stem. They nearly all build the most beauti- 

 ful little pear-shaped nests, which are hung from a twig or 

 the under side of a broad leaf, but one Ceylon species — Loten's 

 Sunbird — as will be noted, is an exception to this rule. 



Four species have been recorded from Ceylon, all belonging 

 to one genus — AracJmechthra — of the sub-family Nectariniinge. 

 The other Indian sub-family, the Spider Hunters — Arachno- 

 therinse — is not represented in the Island. 



