278 NECTAEINIID^ CINNYRIR 



always suspended from the outside twigs of a bush or tall weed, and 

 is constructed of dry grass, the fibres of leaves and the smaller 

 stems of plants, bound together with cobwebs and frequently 

 decorated on the outside with bits of lichen. The interior is lined 

 with fine dry grass, hair, and occasionally feathers. The eggs, 

 invariably two in number, are elongated, of a pale brown ground- 

 colour, closely dotted and mottled all over with dark brown and 

 slate-grey. They average 0-84 x 0-52. 



Genus II. CINNYRIS. 



Type. 

 Cinnyris. Cuvier, Eegn. Anim. i, p. 412 (1817) C. splendidus. 



Bill much curved and pointed, longer than the head, the culmen 

 ridged ; nostrils basal, with an operculum but without bristles. 

 Wing with the first primary very short, the third, fourth and fifth 

 longest. Tail square or slightly rounded or graduated, shorter 

 than the wing. Tarsus scutellated anteriorly. Plumage : some 

 portion of the plumage of the males with metallic colouring during 

 the breeding season (except in C. olivaceus), and many of them with 



Cinnyris gutturalis. 



yellow, orange or scarlet ornamental pectoral tufts ; in winter the 

 males resemble the females in having very plain colours, with the 

 exception of C. verreauxi, in which species both sexes alike have 

 submetallic colours and scarlet pectoral tufts. 



About seventy species belonging to this genus are known. They 

 are distributed over the Ethiopian and Indo-Malayan Eegions, one 

 species having a very limited range in Palestine. From fifty to 

 sixty species and subspecies are found in the Ethiopian Eegion, 

 twelve occurring within our limits. 



All the Cinny rides feed on the saccharine juices of flowers and 

 on insects. The males of all the South African species sing more 

 or less melodiously during the breeding season. They build domed 



