294 



NECTARINIID^ 



ANTHOBAPHES 



Iris dark brown ; bill, legs and feet black. 



Length 6'75 ; wing 2-25 ; tail, to end of two long centre feathers 

 3-20, of next 2-20 ; tarsus 0-65 ; culmen O90. 



Tail of Antlio'bapTies violacca. 



Adult female. Without metallic plumage ; above, olive-brown, 

 tinged with yellow on the lower back and upper tail-coverts ; wing 

 and tail - feathers brown bordered externally with olive-yellow ; 

 below paler olive-brown tinged with yellow on the abdomen ; under 

 wing-coverts greyish-yellow. 



Length 5-00 ; wing 2-10 ; tail 1-80 ; tarsus 0-65 ; culmen 0-85. 



Young males. At first resemble the female. When about six 

 months old they have gained the orange-red breast and yellow 

 pectoral tufts, and metallic feathers are commencing to appear 

 among the lesser wing-coverts and on the crown and throat ; the 

 tail is nearly square. 



Distribution. Confined to Cape Colony and most abundant 

 at its south-western extremity, on the Cape Peninsula, the 

 Hottentots Holland and Drakenstein Mountains. Fairly common 

 in Little Namaqua Land, but does not range to the north of 

 the Orange River, nor does it extend much to the east of 

 Grahamstown, its distribution being coincident with that of 

 certain heaths. 



Habits. The Orange- breasted Sunbird frequents open unculti- 

 vated country, rough hillsides, and the slopes and summits of moun- 

 tain ranges, and especially localities where various heaths and 

 proteas abound. It has a considerable vertical range, from the sea 

 level to a height of 4,000 feet or more, and being a hardy little bird, 

 seemingly indifferent to cold and wet, it is quite at home on the bleak 

 and foggy mountains of the coast ranges in Cape Colony. Of rather 

 tame and unsuspicious habits, the beautiful male frequently allows 

 a close approach as he sits on the summit of a low bush or spray 



