It 



gardens, cotton-fields, and brushwood, but are rarely met with far from water. In Abyssinia 

 he procured specimens in the mountains up to an elevation of from 5000 to 6000 feet ; and he 

 informs us that the males assume their full plumage during the rainy season, in May and June, 

 and retain it until December. 



Antinori and Beccari during their travels in North-eastern Africa collected specimens on the 

 Anseba river, in Bogos Land, in May, and at Karen in June, and found it equally distributed 

 from Samhar to Barka, in the Bogos country, where it was frequently seen during the flowering- 

 season of the " tamarind," around the blossoms of which they procure an abundance of small 

 insects. 



Von Heuglin also obtained specimens at Bongo and at Wau, on the Gazelle river ; while 

 Messrs. Jesse and Blanford only met with these birds on the banks of the Anseba river, at 

 Waliko and Bejook, during the months of July and August. Here, according to Mr. Blanford, 

 it was " common, especially in the thickets near the river, usually upon high acacia trees, but 

 not seen anywhere else. Females were very rarely noticed. This bird has a fine song." 



Dr. Brehm found a nest of these birds on the 12th of September ; it was suspended from an 

 exposed bough of a low mimosa tree, in the thick forest, and consisted principally of the seed- 

 shucks of Calotropis procera. It contained two rather round white eggs. 



In West Africa it ranges from Senegal to the Gold Coast. In the British Museum I have 

 examined specimens from Senegal, collected by M. Marche, from Dakar, on the Cape-Verd penin- 

 sula, and on the river Gambia from Bathurst and Daranka. From Casamanse and Bissao it is 

 recorded on the authority of M. Verreaux. Dr. W. Fergusson collected it at Sierra Leone. 



From Fantee it was first noted by Mr. Sharpe in 1869 ; but it is not an uncommon species 

 there, although not so plentiful as most of the other Sun-birds. I have seen it myself in that 

 country in the thick bush near the small brook at Abrobonko, six miles from Cape-Coast Castle. 

 Here in February the males were in full plumage, and might be occasionally watched as they 

 flitted around the flowering-plants at the edge of the small native plantations and clearings, but 

 not in company with the other species, which were so abundant in the large flowering-trees. 



Southward of the Gold Coast I can find no authentic instance of its having been captured ; 

 and there can be no doubt that M. Le Vaillant was wrong in describing the species as a native of 

 South Africa. 



With a large series of specimens before me from North-east and West Africa I can detect 

 no variation or sign of local races. 



The adult male is here figured and described from one of my specimens from Senegal. 



The adult female and the immature birds, or males in moult, described above, are from 

 Senegal and Dakar, the last three from Mr. Sharpe's collection, now the property of the British 

 Museum. 



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