SUN-BIRDS. 



537 



And, indeed, if it be admissible to speak of representative ' families of the two 

 hemispheres, the sun-birds ' represent,' in the Old World, the hummers of the New. 

 Uniform as is their structure, their coloration is as varied and brilliant as that of any 

 other family, but their habits are said to be so alike that the biography of one species 

 will answer for that of the rest. To give an idea of their habits we select a few ab- 

 st racts of Jerdon's account of the common Indian purple sun-bird ( Cinnyris asiaticct) : 

 " This bird, like the others of its tribe, has a feeble but sweet chirping note. It 

 feeds partly on the nectar of flowers, but a good deal on insects, small cicadella3, flies, 

 spiders, etc. It occasionally hovers in the air before a flower whilst extracting the 

 honey, but generally hops about and clings to the smaller twigs and flowering branches. 

 I have occasionally seen it snap at an insect in the air. Whilst feeding it frequently 



FIG. 2C7. Ctrthin familiaris, common creeper. 



opens and closes its Avings. A pair built their nest just outside my house door at Jalna. 

 It was commenced on a thick spider's web, by attaching to it various fragments of pa- 

 per, cloth, straw, grass,, and other substances, till it had secured a firm hold of the twig 

 to which the spider's web adhered, and the nest suspended on this was then completed 

 by adding other fragments of the same materials. The entrance was at one side, near 

 the top, and had a slightly projecting roof or awning over it. The female laid two 

 eggs of a greenish-gray tinge, with dusky spots." 



The species figured is the metallic sun-bird (Nectarinia metallicd) from North- 

 eastern Africa. It is colored as follows : head, neck and mantle deep metallic green, 

 rest of back, the rump, and a crescent bordering the green of the throat, brilliant deep 

 purplish blue; rest of underparts gamboge yellow, but under tail-coverts nearly white. 

 The female is plain, pale earthy brown above, pale yellowish beneath. 



