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Mrs. Katharine Currey.



THE GREATER DOUBLE COLLARED SUNBIRD.


(Cinnyris afer).


A beautifully coloured bird and seems quite hardy but most

pugnacious. Sings beautifully and most tame. Colour : head, neck

and back intense metallic green; breast, brilliant scarlet, separated

from the green throat by a band of metallic blue ; underparts below

breast, olive ; wings and tail dull earth brown with yellow axillary

tufts, and the upper tail coverts metallic blue. Rather a smaller

bird than a linnet. * * *


THE LESSER DOUBLE COLLARED SUNBIRD.


(Cinnyris c lia lybeus ).


Very similar in colour to the Greater, with the green not so

glittering and the red on the breast only half as wide. He is a

smaller bird, being about the size of the Indian Amethyst and is

beautifully shaped and very tame indeed. Sings very prettily.

Hardy and easy to keep and they make delightful pets.


THE MALACHITE SUNBIRD.' (Nectarinia famosa).


This is a much larger bird than any of the species described

above and most elegant and graceful. General colour metallic green

with black quills and bright yellow pectoral tufts. Abdomen glossed

with blue ; long tail with five inch central feathers. A very fine

songster and seems quite hardy and a very charming pet, and to

my mind the prettiest of all the Sunbirds I have seen. This bird

loses the metallic colour after the breeding season.


All my Sunbirds are kept in separate cages in a bright room

and seem very happy and well.



BIRD FRIENDSHIP.


By Katharine Currey.


Two birds — of. very different species !—have claimed a nearer

acquaintance with us, a domestic cock (a white Leghorn), and a

Thrush. Every morning at cock crow, Chanticleer proclaims the

hour by crowing in the garden, which he enters by flying over a

gate. He walks round and then returns to the poultry yard. After

breakfast, he appears again at the garden-door, crowing to announce

himself and demanding his breakfast. He stands on the door-sill



