^5 



With regard to its range in South-western Africa, I cannot do better than quote from 

 Mr. Andersson's valuable work on the birds of Damara Land (p. 74) : — " I have found this 

 species pretty abundant in Little Namaqua Land ; but to the best of my knowledge it is not an 

 inhabitant of Great Namaqua or Damara Land, though Mr. Layard informs me that Mr. Chap- 

 man brought specimens from the Lake-country. It is found singly and in pairs, often also in 

 flocks, frequenting the slopes of hills and mountains, whence it descends to the lower grounds, 

 but only during the flowering-season of the garden plants and trees, amongst which it is 

 especially fond of the sweet-scented orange-blossom. With the exception of such excursions, it 

 is not migratory. The male bird has a brisk pleasant song." 



Levaillant gives a very similar account of its habits as observed by him at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and also remarks : — " Le male a un gazouillement precipite des plus vifs et des plus 

 agreables." 



Mr. Layard (B. of S. Afr. p. 78) writes: — "This Sun-bird appears to affect wild unculti- 

 vated country and mountains more than the other species; indeed I never observed it near 

 habitations. It is plentiful on the top and about the sides of Table Mountain. At the Knysna 

 I found it in abundance among the uncultivated hill-sides, away from the timber. I saw a pair 

 building a pendent, domed nest, with a projecting portico over the entrance, at Cape Delgado, 

 on the east coast of Africa. The nest was hung at the extreme end of a drooping branch of a 

 Casuarina, close to the sea-beach ; not far off was the nest of N. gutturalis." 



During the rainy season the male loses its bright colours and assumes a plumage almost 

 identical with that of the female. 



A very fine specimen in my collection, from which the accompanying illustration of the male 

 is taken, has a few of the upper tail-coverts broadly tipped with metallic lilac, a character which 

 I have not observed in any other individual that I have examined. 



