NECTAKINIID^B CINNYEIS 285 



Description. Adult males. Similar to C. afer in plumage, but 

 with the scarlet breast-band darker and narrower. Considerably 

 smaller than C. afer. 



Iris dark brown ; bill, legs and feet black. 



Length 5-00; wing 2-25; tail 1-90 ; tarsus O65 ; culmen 0-80. 



Adult female. Similar in colour to the female of C. afer, but 

 much smaller. 



Length 4-10; wing 2-10; tail 1-80; tarsus 0'65 ; culmen 0-72. 



Distribution. A common species over the greater part of Cape 

 Colony ; abundant in Little Namaqua Land, but does not appear 

 to range to the north of the Orange Eiver on the west coast. 

 It extends throughout the Eastern Colony and Kaifraria, and 

 thence through Natal, Zululand, and the Orange Free State into 

 the Transvaal and Matabililand. 



Habits. Owing to its habit of frequenting flower gardens, its 

 tameness, and the brilliant and showy plumage of the male, the 

 present is probably the most generally recognised and best known 

 of the South African Sunbirds. Like all its congeners it feeds 

 both on small insects and the nectar of flowers. When extracting 

 the latter it frequently hovers, Humming-bird like, with quivering 

 wings, in front of the flower, then suddenly darts away to another 

 to go through the same performance. Other Sunbirds occasionally 

 poise themselves on their wings in front of flowers, but none so fre- 

 quently as this species. Both male and female are extremely quick 

 and agile on the wing, frequently darting to and fro with such 

 rapidity that the eye can scarcely follow their movements. In spring 

 the males are pugnaciously inclined, and spend a large portion of 

 their time in chasing and being chased by rival males. At the 

 same season the cock, whose ordinary note is a low chirp, becomes 

 endowed with a soft warbling song, which he frequently utters 

 from the spray of some bush not far from the haunts of the female. 



The nest, built in August or September in Cape Colony, is a 

 small, domed, pear-shaped structure, with a projecting porch over 

 the side entrance, and is usually suspended from the outer twigs 

 or leaves of a low bush. It is rather loosely constructed of fine 

 dry grass, various fibres^ and cobwebs, and is lined with feathers 

 and hair. Sometimes this Sunbird takes possession of a cater- 

 pillar's nest, re-lines it, and lays its eggs in the interior. The two 

 eggs resemble those of C. afer in being grey, thickly spotted and 

 mottled with brown and slate colour, but they are smaller, 

 averaging 0-66 x 0.45. 



