PROMEROPID^ PROMEROPS 273 



with her long tail projecting at an angle over the edge of the nest. 

 The eggs are hatched at the end of fifteen or sixteen days and the 

 young remain in the nest for about five weeks. The eggs, usually 

 laid about the end of May or early in June, vary considerably in 

 size, shape and colour ; some are much elongated, others rounded 

 ovates. As a rule the ground colour varies from light buff to 

 reddish-brown ; this may be more or less covered with blotches, 

 scrawls, and zig-zag markings of deep purplish black, or with 

 finer spots and lines of brown. Many eggs resemble those of the 

 European Bunting (Emberiza miliaria) ; others, as far as colour 

 goes, those of many of the Sunbirds ( Nectar iniidce). They average 

 1-00 x 0-72. 



156. Promerops gurneyi. Natal Long -tailed Sugar-bird. 



Promerops cafer (ncc Linn), Gurnet/, Ibis, 1862, p. 27. 



Promerops gurneyi, /. I Vnr<</M', P. Z. S. 1871, p. 135, pi. viii ; Shelley, 



Monogr. Cinniji-iiUc, p. 881 (1877) ; id. B. Afr. i, p. 7 (1896) ; 



Barmtt, Ibis, 1876, p. 202; Sharpc, cil. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 306 



(1884) ; Gadow, Cat. B. M. ix, p 284 (1884). 



Description. Adult male.(N. W. Transvaal, Jan. 16, 1889). 

 Like the male of P. cafer, but with the tail much shorter ; the 

 lanceolate feathers of the forehead and crown deep chestnut-red 

 with pale shaft markings, forming a distinct cap ; the sides of neck, 

 lower throat, and upper chest paler chestnut-red, many of the chest- 

 feathers with whitish tips ; the upper surface of body tinged with 

 olive ; cheeks and throat whitish separated by a row of dusky 

 spots. 



Iris dark brown ; bill, legs and feet black. 



Length 11-00 ; wing 3-90 ; tail 6-50 ; tarsus 0-85 ; culnien 1-25. 



Adult female. Eesembles the male, but is paler and duller in 

 tint, with a shorter tail. 



Length 9-50; wing 3-30 ; tail 5'00 ; tarsus 0'85 ; culmen 1-20. 



Distribution. Locally distributed over Natal, Zululand, Gaza- 

 land, Swaziland, the Transvaal and the north-eastern districts of 

 the Orange Free State. 



Habits. This species is apparently only a winter visitor to 

 Natal. Near Pinetown it is not very common, but a certain 

 number appear annually and may be generally found feeding with 

 Sunbirds on the nectar of the Australian " Bottle-brush." They are 

 very tame and unsuspicious as a rule. Mr. Ayres remarks in " The 

 18 



