170 GREATER DOUBLE-COLLARED SUN-BIRD. 



is entirely of a greenish hair-brown, paler on the 

 under 'parts, and having a yellowish tint on the 

 chin, vent, and under tail-coverts, the wings, tail, 

 and crown of the head being a few shades darker. 

 These specimens, received from Southern Africa, 

 were collected by Dr. Smith. 



According to Le Vaillant this species does not 

 reach nearer to the southern point of Africa than 

 where the extensive forests of the eastern coast ter- 

 minate ; but it stretches into Caffraria, and also to 

 the Gamtoos and Sondag rivers. It frequents the 

 forests, sometimes also descending to the plains, con- 

 structs a nest in the hollow of some tree, and lays 

 from four to five eggs of a bluish white colour, 

 marked with tawny. 



During the rainy season, or when the time of in- 

 cubation is past, the same traveller states that the 

 male assumes exactly the dress of the female, ex- 

 cept that the vent is of a more yellow tint, and that 

 the axillary tufts, which the female never possesses, 

 are preserved. The young of both sexes are of a 

 reddish grey above, olive beneath, and on the throat 

 whitish. 



