114 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 



be easily watched ; and their nests are often quite acces- 

 sible. Of course, I do not recommend them to be caged 

 in India, but it is worth mentioning that they can be 

 taken to England, several having been taken home 

 of late years. In captivity they should be fed on honey 

 slightly diluted with water and mixed with satoo into 

 a thin pap, with maggots when obtainable. When this 

 is not the case, some crumbled yolk of hard-boiled egg 

 should be mixed up in the pap. There is no trouble 

 in getting them to feed, and they are soon reconciled to 

 captivity. 



In any locality in England where some flowers are 

 always in bloom I believe one of our Himalayan species 

 might thrive in the open ; this is the Firetailed Bed 

 Honey-sucker (Aeihopyga ignicauda), a very beautiful 

 species which ranges as high as 11,000 feet. But the 

 commonest species in India are birds of a low elevation. 



THE PURPLE HONEY-SUCKER (Araclinechtlira asiatica) 

 is figured on Plate V (Fig. 1) ; this figure represents 

 the full plumaged male ; the hen is olive-coloured above 

 and yellow below. After breeding the cock loses his 

 glossy purple plumage and becomes like the hen, ex- 

 cept for a long narrow purple streak running from the 

 chin down to the breast. 



This bird is found all over the Empire, but does not 

 ascend the hills above five thousand feet ; on the west 

 it goes as far as Persia, and extends eastward to Cochin 

 China, so that altogether it must be one of the most 

 abundant of all the family. It breeds more than once 

 a year, and the nest may be found at almost any 



