Sun-birds 80 1 



they have the habit of opening and shutting the wings alternately, thus dis- 

 playing their beautiful plumage to full advantage. They are past masters in 

 the art of nest building, constructing normally a beautiful little pear-shaped or 

 oval nest of grasses, moss, down, and spiders' webs, and lined with softer down, 

 hair, feathers, etc. ; it is attached to the end of a branch or the under side of a 

 large leaf, and often has the entrance hole protected by a projecting portico or 

 roof. Writing of the habits and nests of the Malay Yellow-breasted Sun-bird 

 (Cinnyris pectoralis}, as observed in Labuan, Mr. Whitehead says: "It is com- 

 mon in the open places generally, preferring fruit gardens to most other locali- 

 ties. I have seen many nests of this bird, which are generally suspended on an 

 outside branch of some bush or small tree. The nest is often a beautiful struc- 

 ture composed of dead leaves; over the small entrance hole is a roof which pro- 

 jects so as to keep out the wet. At the bottom is generally a long streamer 

 which assists in making the nest look much like a lump of leaf refuse that has 

 become fixed to the branches. Inside, the nest is lined with 'Lalang' grass 

 down, from the seeds of that plant." Of the nest of another species (C. affinis] 

 he says: "It is a beautiful cup-shaped affair suspended from the under side of 

 some large leaf. The nest is fastened to the leaf by spiders' web which is sewn 

 through. It is composed of brown, silky substance which is found on the 

 young fronds of ferns, and a good deal of white down from seeds is also used. 

 The outside is covered with small flower and plant stems stuck together with 

 spiders' web." The eggs of the Sun-birds are almost invariably two in num- 

 ber, whitish in color, and always more or less profusely streaked or spotted. 



Indian Sun-birds. Of the five Indian genera, Chalcostetha, which includes 

 only the Macklot's Sun-bird (C. pectoralis), is known by the rather long and 

 well-graduated tail and the covering membrane of the nostrils being feathered. 

 It is a handsome little species about five and a half inches long, the male being 

 largely metallic green suffused with lilac, though the tail is deep blue, the chin, 

 throat, and breast metallic copper-color surrounded by lilac-purple, and the 

 pectoral tufts bright yellow; the female is largely olive-green above and yellow 

 below. The Yellow-backed Sun-birds (ALtkopyga) have slender, much-decurved 

 bills, the males with elongated central tail-feathers and a yellow back or rump, 

 while the females are more or less completely dull green. Among the twenty 

 or more species of this genus, all of which are remarkable for their brilliancy, 

 it is difficult to select the most notable, yet almost at random we may take the 

 Fire-tailed Yellow-backed Sun-bird (M. ignicauda). In the male, which is eight 

 inches long, the forehead, crown, and throat are metallic purple and blue, the 

 sides of the head and neck, back, shoulders, upper tail-coverts, and central pair 

 of tail-feathers are rich crimson; the remaining tail-feathers and wings are 

 brown, the former edged with crimson and the latter with olive-green; the 

 rump yellow; the breast bright yellow strongly washed with crimson in the 

 middle, while the remaining under parts are greenish yellow. The female, 

 which is only five inches long, is mainly green. Passing over the genera Aradi- 

 nechthra, in which the tail in both sexes is short and rounded and the bill much 

 curved downward, and Anthreptes, which has a deeper, nearly straight bill, we 



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