496 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1909. 
Family NECTARINIID. 
The sunbirds, or zuiker-bekkies (it. sugar-bills) as they are called _ 
by the Boers, may be ranked among the most brilliantly plumaged 
members of the local avifauna, yet their gay colors are often of a 
decidedly protective nature. They spend such a large portion of 
their existence feeding on various flowers that their coloration lends 
itself to assimilation. Mrs. M. E. Barber, a most observant natur- 
alist, drew attention to this fact as far back as 1878, when she pub- 
lished a paper in part 2, volume 1, of the Transactions of the South 
African Philosophical Society, entitled “ Peculiar Colors-of Animals 
in Relation to Habits of Life.” She noted how the colors of certain 
South African sunbirds accorded with those of the flowers of the 
aloes and Erythrina trees on which they feed. She says: “ The most 
unguarded moments of the livesof these birds are those that are spent 
among the flowers; it is then they are less wary than at any other 
time. * * * Even the keen eye of the hawk will fail to detect 
them, so closely do they resemble the flowers they frequent.” She 
particularly draws attention to Cinnyris afer in connection with the 
latter paragraph. With regard to the scarlet-chested sunbird 
(Cinnyris gutturalis), according to the late Doctor Stark these 
birds feed largely on the scarlet blossoms of the kaflir-boom (/7ry- 
thrina caffra), hence it naturally follows that their scarlet feather- 
ing is conducive toward protective resemblance. The malachite sun- 
bird (Nectarinia famosa) is of a bright green color, with yellow 
pectoral tufts. Yet, when sitting among the almost equally bright 
foliage of the mimosa, with its fluffy yellow blossoms (a favorite 
haunt of theirs), it is not easy to locate, always provided, of course, 
that the bird does not move. This species, moreover, loses its bright 
plumage about the same time as the mimosas shed their leaves, both 
assuming a general brown tint, the bird thus still retaining its assimi- 
lative coloration. The females are of a brown color at all seasons, 
which naturally renders them, winter and summer, inconspicuous 
among the branches of trees. 
I can also speak from experience regarding the black sunbird (C. 
amethystinus), having had the good fortune to watch many, both in 
the gardens of Johannesburg, and among its natural scrub on Mod- 
derfontein. I can do no better than quote Doctor Stark’s words: 
x * * so closely does the nearly black plumage of C. amethyst- 
inus assimilate in color with the dark naked branches of the tree, 
that as long as the bird is still it is not easily distinguished on its 
perch.” This I can fully substantiate. One instance, that of a young 
male in the “brown,” is perhaps worth quoting. In my journal, 
under date September 3, 1899, I find: “‘ While strolling through an 
orchard I heard the plaintive ‘ peep’ of a sunbird, so I halted and 
