THE SUNBIRDS AND THE HOOPOE. 67 



birds and called a Flowerpecker (Dices um minimum), 

 but it has none of the splendid colours of the Sunbirds. 

 It is, indeed, a bird of the humblest aspect, of a uni- 

 form grayish-greenish colour, only paler on the under- 

 parts, with a very short beak and tail and nothing 

 striking or remarkable about it, except this, that it is 

 quite the smallest bird to be seen in Bombay. By 

 this it may be recognised, and by its fussiness, for it 

 appears to be charged with an importance quite out 

 of proportion to its size. It is always bustling about 

 and uttering its one note, chick, chick, chick, in a very 

 loud voice. It is said to feed upon minute insects and 

 flowerbuds, but I do not recollect that I ever saw it 

 eating anything except the soft, yellow berries of the 

 so-called "Mistletoe" (Loranthns], which burdens 

 and half kills all our old mango trees. Of course it 

 must sometimes eat other things, but I do not think 

 you will find the bird far from the plant. 



By its nest the Flowerpecker is a Sunbird. I can 

 remember still the delight with which I first beheld 

 that truly exquisite piece of workmanship. In its 

 general plan it is the same as the nest of the Sunbird, 

 a purse, with the entrance at one side, hung at the end 

 of a branch ; but there is a difference in the idea that 

 the two birds work up to. The Sunbird, trusting to 

 a bare-faced fraud, almost courts observation, while 

 the simple-minded Flowerpecker seeks concealment. 

 It discards all superfluities, builds a compact little 

 structure of silk cotton and other fibres, hardly larger 

 than a duck's egg, and hides it among overhanging 

 leaves. I am sure also that it chooses a site, if possi- 

 ble, near to a colony of vicious red ants. It eludes 

 their notice in some of those mysterious ways known 



