NECTABINIID^E CINNYRIS 283 



steel-blue ; greater wing-coverts and quills dark brown ; tail- 

 feathers brown-black, the outer edged with whitish ; almost the 

 entire breast bright scarlet, forming a broad belt, separated from 

 the green throat by a narrow line of metallic-steel-blue ; pectoral 

 tufts pale yellow ; abdomen, thighs and under tail and wing-coverts 

 ash-brown. 



Iris dark brown ; bill, legs and feet black. 



Length 5-50 ; wing 2-60 ; tail 2-25 ; tarsus 0-75 ; culmen 1-10. 



Adult female. Above, ash-brown ; wings darker brown ; tail- 

 feathers brown-black, the outer edged with whitish ; a slight 

 eyebrow whitish ; below much paler brown, the centre of body 

 yellowish ; edge of wing and under wing-coverts whitish. 



Iris dark brown ; bill, legs and feet black. 



Length 5-00; wing 2-50; tail 2-25 ; tarsus 0- 75 ; culmen 1-10. 



young male. Eesembles the female. Metallic feathers first 

 appear on the head and throat. 



Distribution. Somewhat locally distributed over Cape Colony. 

 It is not found near Cape Town, but is a common species in the 

 neighbourhood of Swellendam, George, Knysna, Port Elizabeth, 

 Grahamstown and East London. In Natal and the Orange Free 

 State it is also abundant in certain districts though entirely absent 

 from others. It is found in Zululand and is common near Lyden- 

 burg and Eustenburg in the Transvaal, according to Mr. Ayres. 

 Mr. Buckley met with it in Swaziland. This species has been 

 recorded also from the Lake Ngami country by Chapman, but pro- 

 bably in error, as this district is within the range of the more 

 northern C. ludovicensis, and Andersson did not find C. afer in either 

 Great Namaqua or Damara Land. 



Habits. This very beautiful Sunbird inhabits both the forest 

 districts on the south coast and the more open grassy hillsides, but 

 unlike the Lesser Double-collared Sunbird, rarely frequents flower 

 gardens or the neighbourhood of houses. It visits a variety of 

 flowers, including many of the proteas and heaths, but is especially 

 fond of the flowering aloes, sucking nectar from their blossoms with 

 avidity, and also catching the numerous insects that frequent these 

 flowers for a similar purpose. The call-note of C. afer is a rather 

 shrill chirp, the spring-song of the male a somewhat loud, cheerful 

 and sustained melody, very pleasant to the ear. 



The nest, the usual domed and pendent structure of the African 

 Sunbirds, is built of dry grass, fibres of bark, cobwebs, and occa- 

 sionally pieces of cast snake - skin, with a lining of hairs and 

 feathers, 



