290 NECTABINIID^) CINNYEIS 



Mr. F. J. Jackson found its nest at Merereni, on the east coast, 

 " suspended from the end of the branch of a mangrove, at the edge 

 of a creek, in July." 



167. Cinnyris fuscus. White-vented Sunbird. 



Le sucrier namaquois on a cale9on blanc, Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. vi, p. 



168, pi. 296 (1808). 

 Cinnyris fuscus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxxi, p. 506 (1819) ; 



Gurney in Andersson's B. Damara Land, p. 71 (1872) ; Shelley, 



Monogr. Cinnyridce, p. 285, pi. 89 (1877) ; Gadoiv, Cat. B. M. ix, p. 



75 (1884) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. pp. 317, 832 (1884). 

 Nectarinia fusca, Jardine, Monogr. Sunbirds, pp. 183, 252, pi. 8 (1843) 



Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 79 (1867) ; id. Ibis, 1868, p. 244 ; Chapman, 



Trav. 8. Afr. ii, App. p. 407 (1868). 

 Elaeocerthia fusca, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 5 (1896). 



Description. Adult male. Head, neck, back, lesser wing- 

 coverts, throat and upper breast blackish-brown, glossed with 

 metallic-violet or coppery-bronze; rump brown, unglossed, or only 

 slightly so ; upper tail-coverts blackish-brown glossed with metallic- 

 violet and purple ; tail-feathers black edged with violet ; greater 

 wing-coverts and quills brown ; lower breast, abdomen and thighs 

 unglossed black ; pectoral tufts orange-red ; vent greyish ; under 

 tail-coverts white ; axillaries and under wing-coverts black. 



Iris dark brown ; bill, legs and feet black. 



Length 4-80 ; wing 2-30 ; tail 1-65 ; tarsus 0-65 ; culmen 0'85. 



Adult female. Sides of head and neck and entire upper surface 

 light brown ; eyebrow whitish ; ear-coverts brown ; wing-quills 

 brown with paler edges ; upper tail- coverts and tail black, the 

 coverts slightly glossed with blue ; below dull white ; under tail- 

 coverts pure white ; thighs mottled brown and buff ; edge of wing 

 black and white ; under wing-coverts brown. 



Iris brown ; bill, legs and feet black. 



Length 4-40 ; wing 2-10 ; tail 1*60 ; tarsus O65 ; culmen O70. 



Young. Eesemble the female, the young male being distin- 

 guished by a blackish band on the lower throat. 



Distribution. South-west Africa, ranging as far south as the 

 Olifant Eiver in Cape Colony. Very abundant in summer in 

 Northern Cape Colony bordering on the Orange Eiver, as at 

 Upington (Bradshaw), Hopetown (T. Atmore), and Colesberg 

 (Ortlepp). Equally common in Griqualand West and in South 

 Bechuanaland, as well as in Great Namaqua and Damara Lands, 



