THE SUNBIRDS AND THE HOOPOE. 65 



their nectar. Sometimes it hovers in front of them, 

 like a hawkmoth, exploring their recesses with its long, 

 tubular tongue ; oftener it clings with its minute? 

 black feet, throwing its lithe body into all manner 

 of acrobatic attitudes, while it thrusts its slender, 

 curved bill into each tube in turn. And " between 

 whiles " it skips about, slapping its sides with its tiny 

 wings, spreading its tail like a fan, and ringing out 

 its cheery refrain, ching-ching, chikee, chikee, chikee, 

 as if it could not contain all the happiness that rilled 

 its little frame. Suddenly it darts off to another tree, 

 followed by its faithful mate, both traversing the air 

 in a succession of bounds and sportive spirals. I am 

 glad that Sunbirds are never caged, but cannot help 

 wondering why. I once caught one with a butterfly 

 net and kept it for two months, feeding it principally 

 on syrup. 



The Sunbird's nest is one of the most wonderful 

 examples of bird architecture in the world. It is 

 suspended from the very end of some down-hanging 

 branch, often in an exposed situation by the wayside. 

 The foundation is a pear-shaped bag made of various 

 fibres, with an opening on one side, near the top. 

 Over the opening there is a little porch to keep 

 out sun and rain. Having finished this, the bird 

 turns ragman and scours the country for scraps of 

 rubbish. Fragments of bark, moss, lichens, withered 

 petals of flowers, tags of white silk from the nests of 

 red ants, the conglomerated pellets of chewed sawdust 

 with which woodboring caterpillars conceal the en- 

 trances to their burrows, anything in short that looks 

 old and shabby, is pounced upon and brought home 

 and carefully stuck about the outside of the nest, 



