

NECTARINIA OSEA, Bona,,. 



Jericho Sun-bird. 



Cynnyris Osea, Bonap. Compt. Rend, de l'Acad. Sci., torn. xlii. p. 765. 



Nectarinia Osea, Trist. in Proc. of Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 445.— Id. in Ibis, New Ser. vol. i. (1865) p. 72, pi. ii. 



I am indebted to Mr. and Mrs. Amhurst, of Didlington Park, Norfolk, for several examples of this beautiful 

 but hitherto little-known Sun-bird for illustration in the ' Birds of Asia,' and also for a specimen of the plant 

 on which I have figured it, all of which were obtained during their visit to Syria. Science is not less indebted 

 to the Rev. H. B. Tristram for the very interesting account of this bird published by him in the ' Ibis ' for 

 1865, from which I take the liberty of extracting some interesting passages : — 



" Our acquaintance with the Sun-bird commenced at Jericho, on the last day of the year, when six 

 specimens were obtained close to our camp at Ain Sultan. The oases of the plains of Jericho appear to be 

 its metropolis. We never met with it except in the neighbourhood of water ; but wherever a few tamarisks, 

 zizyphus bushes, or graceful 'retem' shade a fountain or straggling pool in some deep glen opening on 

 the Dead Sea, there a few occur. The larger oases, however, of Jericho at the north-west and Safieh at the 

 south-east end of the Dead Sea are the resorts of great numbers, which, though there to be found in almost 

 every tree, are nowhere gregarious. They are noisy and pugnacious, the males chasing each other with loud 

 cries, and being as tenacious of their respective freeholds as the Robin of Europe. The note is clear and 

 monotonous, very much like the call of the Willow-Wren, but sharper, and often reminding one of that of 

 the Blue Tit, yet with a more hissing sound. It is incessantly repeated from sunrise to evening, and the 

 whereabouts of the male bird can at once be detected ; but to see him is not so easy, as he ceaselessly hops 

 in the centre of the thickest and most impenetrable scrub, and darts very quickly and suddenly across the 

 open from tree to tree. The male is extremely restless, and, as it twists and clings to one twig after another 

 in search of insects, its actions remind one of those of the Tits much more than of those of the Creeper. 

 Like Trichodroma muraria it opens and closes its wings with a curious jerking flap. Occasionally I have 

 seen two rivals for the favours of a female singing on the top of a tree, and puffing out their brilliant orange 

 and red axillary tufts, which only at such times are at all conspicuous. 



" We found these Sun-birds plentiful by the wooded banks of the Jordan, but never far removed from 

 the stream, and ascertained that their summer range is more extensive than we had expected ; for one 

 day in the month of March while shooting on the south side of Mount Carmel, on the slopes which run 

 down to the Plain of Sharon, I secured a pair close to the edge of the plain, and not far from the sea. 

 This was the only occasion on which we met with the bird far away from the Jordan valley ; but I have 

 reason to believe it has been obtained in Asia Minor, as a French collector at Smyrna described to me a 

 bird he had once received from the interior, which could only, I think, have been a female of this 

 species. 



" In April I returned to our old quarters at Ain Sultan, near Jericho, and in the afternoon of the 13th 

 I discovered no less than seven nests — one with three eggs in it, another with two hard-set, a third 

 in the course of construction, and four containing young birds. All were in precisely similar situations, 

 suspended from the extremity of a small twig hanging down in the centre of a 'nubk' tree, the thorny 

 branches of which spread in a circle so close to the ground that I had in every instance to creep on all 

 fours to get under them. These nests were perfectly inaccessible to the attacks of the serpents and lizards 

 which there abound, — and were very neatly made and compact internally, with a small hole in the 

 side, long straws and fibres being attached to the extremity of the drooping branch, and on these the bag 

 is woven ; when finished, a few leaves and straggling straws are loosely fastened all round, to elude 

 observation and remove the appearance of art. 



" In form and size Nectarinia Osea resembles N. Asiatica, but has the upper portion of the axillary tufts 

 rich red instead of orange, and the metallic reflexions of the back and throat bright green in lieu of dark 

 purple, which colour only appears on the forehead and the lower part of the breast. It is also allied to 

 N. affinis from Abyssinia, but differs in the greater extent of the green instead of purple reflexions. 



" The male varies much in colour, and does not appear to attain the nuptial dress till after Christmas, 

 and loses it again in the summer. Not more than one in four of the males we shot in January was in full 

 plumage, the brilliant metallic reflexions of the back, throat, and breast being interrupted by many brown 

 feathers ; and I have several times take« paired and breeding birds in this incomplete livery. 



" The female plumage is always brown grey above and lightish olive grey beneath, with palish-yellow vent 

 and under tail-coverts ; and the tail black, with metallic-green reflexions." 



The Plate represents the two sexes, of the natural size. The plant is Psoralea bituminusa. 





Ill 



