THE HONEY SUCKER. 75 



When the Honeysucker's fancy lightly turns t& 

 thoughts of love, the pair construct a very curious 

 httle nest of cobwebs and rubbish, oval in shape- 

 with the entrance-hole at the side surmounted by an 

 eave or porch. This is hung at the end of a twig, 

 sometimes quite low down ; I remember one in the 

 Bengal Club compound which could have been reached 

 with the hand. On account of the nature of the 

 materials of which it is made it does not particularly 

 strike the eye as a nest at all, and no doubt its 

 situation at the end of such an exiguous support serves 

 as a protection against enemies if it does happen 

 to draw their attention. Only two eggs are laid,. 

 white speckled with drab ; and the young male 

 birds are at first very like their mother. I knew 

 of two being reared by hand in Calcutta by a very 

 painstaking fancier, who kept them successfully till- 

 they had attained their full beauty of pliunage, andf^ 

 for some time after that. 



This species of Honeysucker is confined to India 

 and Ceylon, and is certainly much the commonest 

 kind in Calcutta. But it has a relative in India 

 which is also frequently to be seen, and is to my 

 mind even a handsomer bird, though less varied 

 in hues. This is the Purple Honeysucker {Arach- 

 nechthra asiatica)^ a bird of about the same size as 

 that which I have been discussing, but with a 



