320



S. Porter—Wanderings in the Far East



instructions for feeding them had been totally disregarded. Half of the

birds seemed to be dying, and I stayed up most of the night trying to

save them by dipping their beaks in the nectar and trying to make them

drink. . . . poor things ! The shock of their capture and wrong feeding

had been too much for their fragile little bodies. Another time when I

called on the dealer I found another fifty birds ; these he was expecting

to sell to someone else, but as the intending customer did not take them

I had them, though half were nearly dead. Amongst this lot were six

cocks and six hens of the Macklot’s Sunbird ( Chalcostetha calcostetha)

and a single male of the exquisite [Mthopyga siparaja), the former very

much like a larger edition of the Van Hasselt’s but with a wedge-shaped

tail and with the metallic colouring much duller, the lower breast

being a deep purple instead of red, and the back being metallic green

instead of steel blue, the chief difference being the brilliant yellow

pectoral plumes which are very conspicuous against the black plumage.

Except when displaying a Sunbird never shows its pectoral plumes

unless it is about to die.


The little siparaja is described in the book, Birds of Singapore, as

“ A bright jewel-like bird red above and below, except on the abdomen,

which is smoky black, like the petals of an hibiscus ; yellow rump and

dark blue tail.”


Amongst the other birds were a good many of the Purple-breasted

or Malayan Yellow-breasted (. Leptocoma ornata), larger than the Van

Hasselt’s, of a yellowish olive above, brilliant yellow below, with the

forehead and upper breast a rich shining purple, the colour of a * 4 blue¬

bottle ” fly. I caught quite a number of this species and also the Brown-

throated with a very ingenious trap made by the natives.


Both the Yellow-breasted and the Brown-throated were common in

the garden in Johore, but they seemed to differ in their habits. The latter

never came very low down and were always very wild and wary, and

seemed only to frequent the fragrant flower-spikes of the coconut-palms.

The other bird was extremely tame and familiar and one could watch it

only a few feet away. Besides haunting the coconut-flowers it could be

seen searching the low-flowering shrubs, being especially fond of the

hibiscus. Several males used to visit my captive birds, alighting on

their cages and endeavouring to reach the nectar in the pots and also

the grapes, of which these Sunbirds were very fond.



