

ash, giving it a slight silvery gloss ; sides of the head dark brown, the lower portion of the cheeks and 

 ear-coverts, chin, and upper throat white ; a narrow black band from the lores to halfway down the 

 sides of the throat ; lower half of the throat and front of the chest rufous shaded with brown, with 

 broad white tips to the feathers ; remainder of the breast white, with large dark brown centres to the 

 feathers on the sides ; thighs dark brown ; vent and under tail-coverts bright yellow, the latter with 

 large dark brown centres ; bill and legs black ; irides dark brown. Total length 195 inches, culmen 

 1-3, wing 4, tail 14, tarsus 095. 



Adult Female. Similar in plumage to the male. Total length 157 inches, culmen L25, wing 3 - 8, tail 11, 

 tarsus 095. 



Young Male. Length 123 inches, culmen 1*2, wing 3 - 55, tail 8, tarsus - 95. 



Young Female. Length 9'4 inches, culmen L15, wing 32, tail 51, tarsus 0'85. 



Hab. South Africa, confined to the Cape colony. 



This large Sun-bird is remarkably graceful in form, and may be readily distinguished by its long 

 soft tail-feathers. Though possessing none of the rich metallic colours so usual in this family, it 

 is nevertheless a very striking and beautiful species. It inhabits South Africa, and is there 

 confined to Cape colony, where it is very abundant, both in the neighbourhood of Cape Town 

 and in the George district, but does not extend on the west coast further north than the limits 

 of the colony, while to the eastward it becomes very rare, and in Natal is replaced by another 

 nearly allied form, P. gurneyi, which may be readily distinguished from the present species by 

 the chestnut-colour of its forehead, crown, and fore part of its breast. 



In the few weeks that I spent in Cape colony I had frequent opportunities of observing the 

 habits of this fine species, as I found it plentiful in the gardens of Cape Town and the imme- 

 diate vicinity, as well as at Mossel Bay. They were generally met with in small groups, probably 

 family parties, frequenting the thick scattered bushes, into which they would quickly dive if 

 alarmed, though at other times they preferred the outer twigs, especially those towards tbe 

 summit of the bushes. 



During my stay in the colony the Protect bushes were out of flower, and the most 

 attractive plants at that season were the tall aloes, whose white and yellow blossoms attracted 

 the Sun-birds from the neighbourhood, so that they were often surrounded by a band of this 

 species, their long silky tails fluttering like ribands to the slightest breeze, while they clung 

 to the flowers and probed them with their beaks in search of the sweet nectar and the small 

 insects, the latter consisting chiefly of spiders and a few flies and small beetles. 



Their flight 'is very peculiar, consisting of long regular undulations at a few feet from the 

 ground, their long tails at such times appearing to consist of a single feather. 



At Mossel Bay, in a short walk round the town, the number of Sun-birds that I saw was 

 quite astonishing, the Protea bushes literally swarming with the four common Cape species 

 Promerops cafer, Nectarinea famosa, Citmyris chalybeus, and C. afer ; yet each species kept 

 separate, and the individuals of the same kind were not, properly speaking, gregarious. The 

 present bird alone kept in small family parties, which " followed their leader " from bush to 

 bush, after the manner of C'olius, or of our European Long-tail Titmouse. At such times their 



