THE SUNBIRDS. 115 



time. The said nest is of a somewhat oval shape and 

 hung from the tip of a branch ; it has an entrance as 

 the side, usually with a projection or eave over it. The 

 material used is grass, but the outside is coated with 

 cobwebs, and thickly stuck over with dead leaves, scraps 

 of bark, and other rubbish, including even bits of old 

 letters. The whole affair hardly looks like a nest, and, 

 though it is placed low down, no doubt often escapes 

 observation thereby. Only two or three eggs are laid, 

 white speckled with brown. 



This is to my mind one of the most charming of all 

 Indian birds. The male, in addition to his beauty, posses- 

 ses a very pretty song somewhat like that of a Canary, 

 and he is a very free songster, warbling almost continually, 

 even when out of breeding plumage. He is not a sociable 

 bird, and two are seldom seen together. In the breeding 

 season the flame -coloured tufts which spring from the 

 arm-pits are freely displayed, but ordinarily they are not 

 noticeable, though I have noticed that in captive birds 

 they show up when the owner settles down to roost. The 

 male at all events has a strong attachment to localities ; 

 I remember one which continually haunted the same two 

 or three trees, and habitually sang from one particular 

 twig. I noticed a similar attachment to one perch in a 

 bird I had caged, which I took home with me in 1900 

 to the London Zoological Gardens, this being the first 

 sunbird to reach England alive. But as he was in moult 

 when I got him, and the completion of the process was 

 stopped by the journey, he unfortunately did not livr* 

 long after arrival 



