62 
POPULAR HISTORY OP BIRDS. 
The Nectarinim somewhat resemble the Humming-birds 
in brilliancy of plumage. Dr. Burchell informs us that the 
Dutch Colonists at the Cape name them suiker-vogels/'' 
or sugar-birds^ from their food consisting chiefly of the 
honey they suck from the flowers of the " suiker-bosch/^ or 
sugar-bush {Protea mellifera), Mr. Pringle"^ says that in 
the interior parts of the colony^ where this Protea does not 
grow^ he has seen the Nectarinim swarming in numbers 
nearly as numerous as a swarm of bees^ about various 
flowering shrubs^ and sucking the nectar with their long, 
sickle-shaped bills. He describes it as being a very attractive 
sight, their iridescent and brilliant colours outrivalling the 
blossoms among which they feed. One species (iV. cJialybed) 
sings delightfully, and has a clear melodious note. 
The various species of Sun-birds {Clnnyns) have a long, 
slender, finely-serrated beak. The males alone, during the 
pairing season, assume those brilliant hues which have given 
them their English name ; the males in the winter, and the 
females at all times, are very soberly coloured. Mr. Arthur 
Adams t thus refers to these birds: he says, '^At Singa- 
pore I first had the pleasure of seeing these tiny paragons 
* Notes to Poetical V\^orks, p. 81. 
t Belcher's Voyage of H.M.S. Samarang, vol. ii. p. 387. 
