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than the interior. At Durban I met with them rarely ; but at Pinetown in February and March 

 they were far more common, being usually seen in pairs amongst the tall trees which grow by 

 the sides of the watercourses ; they appear to prefer the higher branches to the low tangled 

 brushwood. According to Mr. Ayres's notes (Ibis, 1864, p. 347), "the birds are common on the 

 coast for some distance inland ; they are particularly fond of shady banana groves, taking the 

 nectar from the long drooping flowers of the plant, and chasing one another about with great 

 pertinacity. The plumage of the female is not so bright as that of the male." 



Out of the many specimens of this bird which I possess, and which have been carefully 

 sexed, I can discover no difference whatever in the plumage. A female sent to me from 

 Pinetown, and represented in the accompanying illustration, possesses a rusty shaded yellow 

 patch on the middle of the throat, which is not observable in my other specimens, and which 

 appears to indicate age in this individual. 



The " olive " group, to which the present species belongs, is that which most nearly connects 

 the genus Cinnyris with Anthreptes. It is essentially an African group, its nearest eastern ally 

 being Anthreptes hypogrammica, a form to which Keichenbach has applied the generic title of 

 Hypogrammica. 



