383 



NAMAQUA, OR WHITE-VENTED SUN-BIRD. 



Nectarinia fusca, VIEILLOT. 



PLATE VIII. 



SPECIMENS of the male of this species have been 

 furnished to us both by the Zoological Society of 

 London and from the Fort Pitt Museum at Chat- 

 ham. Le Vaillant met with it only in the country 

 of the Great Namaqua, where he found it remain- 

 ing during the whole year, and considered it as 

 nearly confined to the bounds of that district ; the 

 nest was discovered in the hollow trunks of trees, 

 the eggs from four to five in number, and of a 

 greyish colour. Specimens in our own collection 

 were received many years since from Southern 

 Africa by the attention of Dr. Smith, but the exact 

 locality is not known. 



The crown, cheeks, neck and back, are of a pur- 

 plish brown, having metallic reflections of purple, 

 caused by the prolonged tips of the feathers being of 

 that colour, or in some lights greenish ; the lower 

 part of the back and rump clove-brown, and the 

 upper tail-coverts steel-blue, without much reflec- 

 tion ; the wings are dark clove-brown, approaching 

 to umber-brown on the quills ; the tail is blackish 



