26J 



as obtained by Senor Anchieta from the Rio Chimba and Capangombe, in Mossamedes, where it 

 is known to the natives by the name of " Mariapinda." He has recently obtained it at Humbe, 

 on the Eio Cunene. Mr. Chapman during his travels in South Africa found it common in the 

 Okavango valley, and in the country about Lake Ngami. In Mr. Andersson's notes, as published 

 by Mr. Gurney, we find the following : — " In Damara Land proper it is not common ; but in 

 July 1866 I obtained several specimens at Objimbinque, where they seemed chiefly to seek their 

 food amongst the tobacco-trees now- growing so abundantly in the bed and on the banks of the 

 Swakop. Can the increase of these trees of late years have brought more of the birds I I hardly 

 remember to have seen them at Objimbinque previously." 



Levaillant only met with it in Caffraria, and, under the wrong impression that it constructed 

 its nest in hollow trees, fancied that it carried the smell of decayed wood on its feathers. But in 

 its feeding and the construction of its nest it resembles the other members of this family ; for we 

 learn from Mr. Ayres (Ibis, 1860, p. 207) that it "feeds principally on the nectar of flowers, but 

 will also eat the soft kinds of insects ; it generally hangs its nest on the outer twigs of trees, at 

 no great height from the earth, and very frequently over water." Mr. T. L. Ayres has sent me 

 several specimens from Pinetown and Durban ; but in this district it is migratory, only arriving 

 in the cool season, and is never very abundant. I did not myself meet with it during my stay 

 in those parts from February to April. 



Mr. T. E. Buckley, during his travels in South Africa, shot this species in September and 

 October, and remarks : — " I only met with this bird in the Matabili country, about the Imguisi 

 and Samouqui rivers ; and even there they were not abundant. The young male gets the scarlet 

 plumage on the throat first, the feathers of the back being of a light greyish brown." 



In Eastern Africa it has been found at Shupanga by Dr. Kirk, who observes that it is 

 common in the Zambesi valley. In Mozambique Captain Sperling procured an unfinished nest, 

 which, he states, was hanging from a twig about six feet from the ground ; it was kidney-shaped, 

 with the two lobes downwards, and the entrance opening from the bottom of one lobe ; the 

 material of which it was built was dry hay-like fibre and grass intricately interwoven. The bird 

 was not at all shy." 



Mr. Layard writes of the present species under the name of Nectarinia senegalensis : — " I 

 met with this bird plentifully at Zanzibar, and at Cape Delgado, on the east coast. It frequents 

 mango-trees, perching on the highest branches, and uttering a loud, shrill note. I killed a 

 specimen at Cape Delgado, clinging to, and apparently building, a nest similar in shape, and 

 hung in like manner, to those of the Nectarinia famosa. It was composed chiefly of cobweb 

 and bits of lichen, and had the usual covered porch." 



The figures and descriptions are taken from two specimens collected for me by Mr. T. L. 

 Ayres at Pinetown, in Natal. 



