NECTARINIIDJ? NECTAKINIA 277 



Iris dark brown ; bill, legs and feet black. 



Length 6-00 ; wing 2-65 ; tail 2-20 ; tarsus 0-65 ; culmen 1-10. 



Young. Resemble the female, but the males are yellower on the 

 under surface 



Note. Towards the end of the breeding season the males begin 

 to gradually lose their metallic plumage, as well as their long 

 central tail-feathers and end by assuming a dull garb like that of the 

 females. Young males after their first moult resemble adult males 

 in their winter dress ; they gain the metallic plumage and long 

 central tail-feathers at their second spring moult. 



Distribution. A common species over the greater portion of 

 Cape Colony, Southern Great Narnaqua Land, the Orange Free 

 State, the higher districts of Natal and Zululand, extending over 

 the greater part of the Transvaal, but becoming rarer towards the 

 Limpopo River. It is local and somewhat scarce in Matabili and 

 Mashonalands, but ranges as far north as the Zambesi and Shire 

 River valleys. 



Habits. This large and beautiful Sunbird is a common resident 

 in nearly every district in which sugar-bushes (proteas) flourish, 

 being equally abundant on low ground but a few feet above the sea 

 level and on mountain slopes to a height of between six and seven 

 thousand feet. Among the higher foot - hills of the Drakensberg 

 Range in Natal it is especially numerous during the flowering of 

 the proteas in October and November. The Malachite Sunbird 

 feeds not only on the saccharine juices of various flowering shrubs 

 but also on insects which it finds among the petals, and especially 

 upon small beetles and spiders. Occasionally it catches flies on 

 the wing, and on one occasion I noticed a male catch and swallow 

 two small lizards, but I imagine that such " big game " is not often 

 indulged in. During the pairing season the brilliantly coloured 

 cocks are constantly fighting or chasing one another with rapid 

 flight and shrill cries through the bushes ; at this time too, the males / 

 frequently indulge in a short, but melodious and somewhat loud 

 song, usually uttered from the summit of a bush. The ordinary 

 call-note of both sexes is a sharp single or double chirp. Unless 

 they have been previously molested these are among the tamest of 

 birds and show great indifference to the presence of man. On 

 the Cape Flats this Sunbird begins to build in August, among the 

 Drakensberg Mountains of Natal towards the end of October or 

 beginning of November. The nest is rather large and bulky, pear- 

 shaped, with a projecting portico over the side entrance. It is nearly 



