Sugar-birds. 
(82) THE BIRD WORLD. 
crown of its head is bright turquoise-blue. The 
inner webs of the secondaries (except the ter¬ 
minal portion), part of the inner webs of the 
primaries, and part of the under wing-coverts are 
canary-yellow; the rest of the wings, the tail, 
the lores, orbits, hind-neck and back are deep 
black; all the rest of the plumage is a uniform 
deep sky-blue. 
The hen of this species is plain dull green 
above, and pale olive-green below ; the wings are 
partly yellow, as in the male. 
The cock bird has a pretty warbling song, and 
his flight is so rapid, and when hovering on his 
wings he vibrates them so quickly, that it is al¬ 
most impossible to perceive the bright daffodil 
yellow colour from which he derives his name. 
A lady member of the Avicultural Society pro¬ 
cured one of these birds in Jamaica, and brought 
it alive to England. She describes it as very 
active, steady and tame. She fed it on bananas, 
wasp grubs, green caterpillars, ants’ eggs and 
mealworms; but it was not keen on the meal¬ 
worms, and would not touch egg' nor any 
farinaceous food. 
The Blue Sugar-bird. 
Dacnis cayana, the Blue Sugar-bird, of which 
there are now two male specimens in the 
Zoological Gardens, has been more often kept in 
England than either of the other two. It has 
black eyes and beak, reddish-brown legs and 
feet, lores, throat, back, flights and tail black; 
all the rest of the bird bright blue, of much the 
same shade as the Indigo Bunting. 
Mr. Fulljames, Mr. Fillmer and Miss C. A. 
Hodgson have all successfully kept this bird. It 
appears to thrive upon a diet of bananas, sponge 
cake, yolk of egg, and a good insectivorous food. 
It is also fond of honey, and would no doubt eat 
small Insects readily. 
The Zoo Treatment. 
At the Zoo all the Sugar-birds are fed upon 
soft food mixture, grapes, oranges, bananas, and 
a delicious-tasting mixture of syrup and meat 
juice. I have watched the Purple Sugar-bird 
feeding upon this, and he sucks it up in long 
draughts, without raising his head to “ say 
grace,” as so many birds do when they drink. 
The Sugar-birds have been now for some 
months in the Zoo, and certainly no birds could 
look better or happier than they do. Although 
they appear such fragile jewels, they are probably 
no more difficult to keep than our own small 
insectivorous birds, and while I would not re¬ 
commend a beginner to spend his money on 
either, yet to those who have had experience the 
keeping of the Sugar-birds should offer no in¬ 
surmountable difficulties. 
If kept in a good-sized box cage in a warm, 
well-ventilated room, and carefully fed as recom¬ 
mended above, they should do well and live long, 
things of beauty to delight the eyes of all be¬ 
holders, and a joy for ever to their fortunate 
owners. 
