154



Dr. E. Hopkinson



the editor, quoting “ Barrow, Travels in South Africa,” says that

there one species was often kept in cages for its song. They were

fed (but only maintained with difficulty) on sugar and water, which,

as the writer says, could not be sufficient to afford them proper support.


The first attempt to import them into England was, I believe,

that made in 1897 by Mr. Finn with some Indian species. These he

tells us in the ‘ Avicultural Magazine ’ for 1899, p. 42, were all Ame-

thyst-rumped Sunbirds (A. zeylonica) with a single Purple (A. asicitica)

among them. Only one lived to reach the Zoo, and that was the

single Purple Sunbird, which, however, did not survive there longer

than a fortnight. Its arrival nevertheless constituted the first exhibi¬

tion there of any Sunbird, and I do not know that any had been pre¬

viously seen elsewhere abroad. Regarding this particular bird, Mr.

Finn tells us that it was in half-colour when obtained in the middle of

July, but by the first week in August had changed to the brown and

yellow non-breeding plumage. None of the Amethyst-rumps, he

says, showed any sign of change of colour. In Oates and Blanford’s

‘ Birds of India ’ it is stated that there is no seasonal change in the

male plumage of an Indian Sunbird. Is this the case or not, or is

the Purple Sunbird an exception to the general rule ? This question

can no doubt nowadays be answered by some of those who have kept

and are keeping these birds, and I hope that we may see in these

pages the answer to this and the other questions I shall ask. In

most African species a special nuptial plumage, is, I believe, the

rule.


From this date till 1906 the Magazine never mentions

Sunbirds. In that year a Sunbird made its first appearance on the

English show bench, Mr. Hawkins showing at the Crystal Palace in

February a dying Malachite, an inauspicious beginning indeed, which

one would never have believed would be the prelude to the changed

condition of affairs, which now holds after such a few years’ interval.

On p. 209 of the 1906 volume the owner of this bird tells us its

history. It was one of the few survivors of these brought from

South Africa by Mr. Hamlyn. Mr. Hawkins writes as follows:


“ Some birds are difficult to adapt to conditions of travel

and captivity, and I think the Sunbirds may be fairly classed

with these. Mr. Hamlyn lost about 85 per cent, of those he



