116 GAHDHiN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 



The year before I left India, I remember being delighted 

 by an instance of the tameness of these little birds. I 

 saw one on a tree close to my verandah, and wishing to 

 get a better look at him, approached the edge when to 

 my astonishment, the bird began to come nearer, and 

 gave me as good a view as I could have wished, seem- 

 ing quite as mnch interested in me as I was in him. 



THE YELLOW-BREASTED OR AMETHYST-RUMPED HONEY- 

 SUCKER (Arachnechthra zeylonica) resembles the previous 

 bird in nesting-habits and the colour of the eggs, and is 

 of about the same size, but has a smaller bill and very 

 different plumage that is in the case of the cock, the 

 hens of the two species being much alike in colour. The 

 cock of this species has a dark-red back and purple head 

 and rump, the latter being especially brilliant ; the belly 

 is a beautiful yellow below the purple throat. But 

 curiously enough these rich colours are only visible when 

 the bird is close at hand; at a comparatively small dis- 

 tance it appears simply black and white, and this is fairly 

 represented by Fig. 1 of Plate III. The hen is like 

 that of the last species, but has the throat white, instead 

 of being all yellow below ; besides which her rather 

 smaller bill distinguishes her. 



The male in this species undergoes no seasonal change 

 of colour, but when he has once donned his ruby and 

 amethyst plumage wears it all the year round. 



This bird is confined to India and Ceylon, and even 

 there has a more restricted range than the purple 

 species. But it is nevertheless a very common bird 

 and in Calcutta is very much more numerous than the 



