124 BIRD ARCHITECTS 



The Paradise Widow-Bird {Vidua paradisea) is also black 

 above with a collar round the neck, and breast bright chestnut- 

 red. Total length, 14| inches. Females of both these birds 

 are brownish birds streaked with blackish. 



SUNBIRDS 



The next group of Architects is the Sunbirds (Family 

 NectariniidcB), sometimes called Sugar-Birds by the Colonials, 

 and Zuikerbekjes (Sugar-mouths) by the Boers. They live 

 on nectar, pollen and insect life. 



Perhaps the best known up-country species is the bright 

 metallic-green Malachite Sunbird {Nectarinia famosa), with 

 its yellow shoulder (pectoral) tufts, and long tail-feathers. 

 Length of male, 9 J inches ; female, 6 inches. This bird 

 changes to a dull brown colour during the winter months, 

 which is the garb of the female bird at all seasons. It is a 

 common species throughout South Africa, excepting Lower 

 Natal and Ehodesia, where it is scarce and local. Li spring 

 the males may sometimes be heard indulging in a short, 

 soft song of fuU melodious notes. 



It builds a large pear-shaped nest of gasas and fibres 

 bound with cobwebs and vegetable down, and lined with 

 hair and feathers, &c. The two eggs are of a pale brown 

 colour, closely marked with dots and blotches of dark 

 brown and greyish. 



The Bifasciated Sunbird (C. mariquensis) has the head, 

 neck, throat and back metallic-green ; below the throat 

 there is a narrow cross-band of steel-blue, succeeded by a 

 much broader one of dark red ; rest of under surface black. 

 Length, 4f inches. This bird is not found in Cape Colony. 

 We observed it in pairs on the Crocodile Eiver, north of the 

 Magaliesberg in the Pretoria district. It is common in the 

 Transvaal Zoological Gardens in March. 



