SUNBIfiDS. 



445 



blossoms by means of its long-, brush-tipped tongue. It has a shrill, not unpleasing, 

 but short song. When pursuing a rival uttering a piercing scream, it is very 

 combative, and if two males meet about the same bush, a fight is sure to ensue, to 

 the great detriment of the beautiful tail-feathers. The males lose their beauty in 

 the winter season ; and the young birds are just like the females. The domed nest 

 is built of cobwebs, lichens, and dry leaves, and usually suspended on the outside 

 of a bush, or the branch of a tree ; the eggs, two in number, are of a dull greyish 



MALE AND FEMALE OF THE METALLIC SUN-BIRD (f Uat. sizej. 



brown colour, minutely mottled all over. In Natal this sun-bird frequents the 

 open country, feeding upon the nectar of the various kinds of aloes, and also on 

 that of some species of lilies, which arc numerous in many of the valleys. Mr. 

 Andersson observes that "this sun-bird is permanently established where it has 

 once taken up its abode. Its food consists of insects and the saccharine juices of 

 flowers, in search of which it flits incessantly from one flowering tree to another, 

 now settling and now hovering, but glittering all the while in the sunshine like 

 some brilliant insect or precious gem. The male, in addition to the beauty of its 

 plumage, possesses a very pleasant warble." The adult male has the general 



