The Hon. Anthony Chaplin—Sunbirds and Others



153



SUNBIRDS AND OTHERS


By the Hon. Anthony Chaplin


Having been invited by the Editor to make some remarks about

the birds I have kept, I should like to begin by saying that although

I seldom have more than half a dozen individuals at the same time,

and very often less when I have something of special interest or rarity,

yet at one time and another I have owned a large and varied number

of species, many of which have eventually been presented to the

Zoological Society. My speciality has been, and always will be,

Sunbirds, a family which now contains almost as many species as the

Humming-birds, and which, therefore, has one more point in common

with that most interesting of all bird types. For although the experts

may shout when the Nectariniidse and Trochilidae are mentioned in

the same breath, yet these two very distinct families have more than

enough in common to confuse (and at the same time excuse) the

superficial ornithologist. Both have a very rapid and dragon-fly-like

flight; both suck the honey from flowers and snap insects in the air ;

both bear a resemblance to one another in form and colour. Isolated

species of Humming-birds live on isolated Andean peaks, and in the

same way the volcanoes of the Central African lakes often have their

unique species of Sunbird, which are likewise found just below the

snows, an example of this being Lord Dartmouth’s Sunbird on

Buwenzori. And this recalls an important point which should not be

overlooked when keeping Sunbirds in captivity, namely, that some

species actually enjoy a cool misty atmosphere and are the better

for it. Aviculturists are too apt to overdo heat, at any rate as regards

the Nectariniidse, and perhaps I may be permitted (I hope without

giving offence) to point this out to Mr. Martin who, in the last issue

of the Magazine advocates heat for Sunbirds. He is certainly right in

respect to some species, as for example the little Cinnyris leucogaster

of South Africa, which he has kept, and which from collectors’ accounts

seems to be a particularly delicate species. On the other hand Nectarinia

famosa is capable of standing great cold and severe stormy weather,

as indeed it must at home in the wild and inclement Drakensberg.



