THE SEARCHERS. 



5 



paper nests of the brown wasps, and in close contiguity with them. On the 4th of May, as I was 

 riding to Savannah-le-Mar, I observed a Banana Quit with a bit of silk cotton in her beak, and, on 

 searching, found a nest just commenced in a sage bush {Lautana camara). The structure, though 

 incomplete, was evidently about to be a dome, and so far was entirely constructed of silk-cotton. A 

 nest now before me is in the form of a globe, with a small opening in the side. The walls are very 

 thick, composed of dry grass, intermixed irregularly with the down of Asclepias. This nest I found 

 between the twigs of a branch of Bauhinia that projected over the high road, near Content, in 

 St. Elizabeth's. The two eggs were greenish white, thickly but indefinitely dashed with red at the 

 broad end." 



THE ABU-RISCH {Hedydiptia Huiallica). 



In the Eastern Hemisphere the Flower Birds are represented by — 



The HONEYSUCKERS {Nectarinid). These are small and delicately-constructed birds, 

 adorned with plumage of the most brilliant hues ; their body is compact, their beak thin, slightly 

 curved, and sharply pointed. The moderately long wing contains ten primary quills. The formation 

 of the tail is very varied, being either straight, rounded, or wedge-shaped at its extremity ; its two 

 centre feathers occasionally extend considerably beyond the rest. The tongue is long, very 

 protrusible, and divided at its tip ; the feet are high, and the toes slender. The coloration of the 

 plumage varies not only in the two sexes, but also at different seasons ; the feathers are moulted 

 twice in the year, and only exhibit their gay tints during the period of incubation ; towards the 

 end of the season the males are clad in the same sombre hues that belong to the females and young. 

 The Honeysuckers inhabit the whole of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, the first-mentioned continent 

 being especially rich in species. Everywhere their glowing colours entitle them to be regarded as the 



