THE JERICHO SUX-B111D. 75 



mark of yellowish-white near the extremity of each feather ; two centre tail-feathers black, slightly 

 tipped with yellow ; the remainder black at the base, and yellow for the remainder of their length, the 

 black decreasing and the yjllow increasing as the feathers recede from the two central ones ; irides 

 reddish-brown ; bill black ; feet blackish-brown ; warty excrescences, covering the face, dirty yellowish- 

 white. * 



THE SECOND FAMILY OF THE HONE Y-EATERS- THE SUN-BIRDS (Nectar mmla}. 



These birds inhabit the whole of Africa, ranging through Palestine to India, and thence through 

 the whole of the Indian and Malayan Islands to Northern Australia, where a single species inhabits 

 the Cape York Peninsula and Northern Queensland. The Sun-birds are divided by Captain G. E. 

 iShelley, our first authority on this family, into two sub-families, which he calls respectively Nectari- 

 niuice and Promerojnnce. In the former of these is placed the great bulk of the Sun-birds, while two 

 species only represent the long-tailed Sun-birds (Promerops caffer and P. gurneyi). All the Sim-birds 

 with scarcely an exception are birds of brilliant plumage, glittering with metallic lustre, so that they 

 represent in this respect the resplendent Humming-birds of the New World; nor are they unlike the 

 latter in their habits, hovering before the open flowers and extracting the honey and the small insects 

 which frequent them. Of the habits of Sun-birds one may say, with the familiar maxim, ex uno disce 

 o nines ; for when once these have been described in the case of a single species, the remarks may be taken 

 as characteristic of the whole family. Mr. J. G. Keulemans, who passed a considerable time in West 

 Africa on Prince's Island (Ilha do Principe) in the Bight of Benin, writes as follows of Hartlaub's 

 Sun-bird (Cinnyris Jutrtlaubi) : " It is tolerably abundant throughout the island, with the exception 

 of the dense woods, where it is replaced by C. obscurus. It is most common on the plains where 

 bushes and bananas occur ; but as Prince's Island is thickly covered with verdure, it would be difficult 

 to say where this Sun-bird is most abundant. It is very plentiful near plantations, usually in small 

 groups of from four to six individuals, in which the males are by far the most numerous. They have 

 no special breeding season, for I have found young birds in every month of the year ; but I find in my 

 journal, under date of August 30th, that during that month I procured nineteen males, but not a single 

 female ; so I suppose that at that season all the hens were breeding. I collected three nests, all of 

 which were very similar. They are of an oval form, and are suspended from one or more twigs, at an 

 elevation of from four to twelve feet from the ground, and generally well concealed amongst the foliage. 

 They were constructed of the hairy appendages that are found on the bark of palm-trees, rather 

 loosely woven together and lined with the soft filaments of flowers, cotton, and other fine vegetable 

 materials, with the opening on the side most exposed to the light. It appears to me that there is only 

 one young bird in each brood, for I never saw the parents feed more than a single young one. 

 It takes a long time before the latter becomes independent ; for I have seen the old birds feeding their 

 offspring after it has been perfectly able to fly, and when it was already beginning to assume its adult 

 male plumage. The song of the male resembles that of our Hedge Sparrow, added to which are some 

 notes similar to those of the Wren ; it is, in fact, somewhat between the songs of these two birds, a 

 little fuller and in a lower key, while the call-note is like that of the Redstart. By imitating this note 

 they can be brought very close, and can be easily captured, as they are naturally very tame. They 

 feed chiefly on insects, but will also eat small berries and fruit, and are very partial to sipping the 

 juice emitted by the banana-flower before the fruit has set. I kept many alive, and fed them upon 

 li]Hi;i, banana, and bread soaked in sugar and water, with occasionally Ants' eggs. Two males, 

 which I tried to bring to Europe died from cold, after having lived in confinement more than three 

 months. The natives call them ' Siwie-barbeiro,' or ' Siwie boca-longe,' and the Portuguese ' Besha- 

 flore ' (flower-kissers)."f 



It has been already mentioned that a Sun-bird occurs in Palestine, where there seems to be a 

 certain intrusion, as it were, of the Indian Avifauna into that of the Paltearctic region, for the Indian 

 Fish-Owl (Ketupa ceylonensis) was also met with by Canon Tristram during his explorations in that 

 country. Concerning the solitary species of Cinnyris known as the Jericho Sun-bird (C. osea), the 

 latter gentleman writes an account as follows : " Most residents in Palestine will tell you of the 

 'Jericho Humming-bird ' a true Humming-bird and will not allow you to doubt the fact of its 

 * Gould : "Handbook to the Birds of Australia," I., p. 528. f Shelley : "Monogiaph of the Sun-birds, '' Part X. 



