RED-COLLARED SUNBIRD. 133 



kept with difficulty, existing entirely on sugar and 

 water.* We know of no other author who mentions 

 this extraordinary fact, the only instance on record 

 of a tenuirostral bird heing gifted with a musical 

 voice. 



In size, this species is rather smaller than the 

 C. Senegalensis. The whole of the head, neck, 

 throat, and back is shining green, with a rich 

 gilded gloss : this colour is bounded, on the breast, 

 by a narrow collar of blue, which has a very slight 

 greenish tinge : and this, again, is followed by ano- 

 ther of scarlet a little broader, and extending more 

 round the sides of the breast : there is also a tuft, 

 under each wing, of pure yellow feathers : the rest 

 of the body and under plumage is of a smoky brown, 

 paler on the vent and under tail-covers : the upper 

 tail-covers are banded with greenish-blue, nearly of 

 the same tint as the band on the breast : the wings 

 are brown ; and the tail, bill, and feet, blackish. 



Total length, 5J ; bill, ft ; wings, 2 T % ; tail, 

 from the base, 2; tarsus, T V 



* Barrow's Travels in Africa, 4to, p. 62, 



