The Hoopoe usually builds in hollow trees, forming a nest of a few stalks and blades of dry grass mingled with feathers; here it lays from four to seven eggs of a pale bluish-grey hue. Some species of this Family (as the genus Epimachus, Cuv.) are remarkable for the singular development of the feathers of the sides, and for the metallic splendour of their scaly or velvety plumage. They rival the birds of Paradise in beauty, and resemble them in some peculiarities of structure; they inhabit also the same region, the immense island of New Guinea. FAMILY II. NECTARINIADE. (Sun-birds.) The numerous species of this Family are birds of diminutive size, but of brilliant plumage, at least in the principal genera, the feathers reflecting metallic and gemmed lustre of various hues in most cases; in some, however, being of rich colours without effulgence. The beak is more or less lengthened, arched, and very slender, generally entire; the tongue, capable of being protruded, is divided at the tip into filaments, sometimes so numerous as to form a sort of pencil or brush, for the purpose of collecting minute insects from the interior of flowers. The nostrils are short, oval, covered with a membrane, and opening only by a lateral slit. The wings are comparatively weak; the feet of moderate size, formed for perching. With a few slight exceptions the Sun-birds are peculiar to the Old World, where they represent the Humming-birds, which are peculiar to the New. The typical genus which contains the majority of the species, and these, such as are preeminently distinguished for their lustrous beauty, is proper to Africa and India, extending through the great Oriental Archipelago. Some of the genera are spread over the Australasian and Polynesian groups of islands, and of these all are destitute of metallic radiance, and some are of sombre colours. GENUS NECTARINIA. (ILLIG.) The beak in this genus is usually long, slender, and sharp pointed; the base dilated, and the edges minutely cut into regular saw-like teeth. The tongue is long and slender, the edges, for the whole length, turned over inwards, so as to form a double tube, the tip divided into two filaments, which are fringed. The wings are rounded, the first quill nearly obsolete. The tail is broad and rounded, with the middle pair of feathers more or less lengthened and narrowed. These brilliant little creatures, as we have already observed, are found in Western and Southern Africa, and in the continent and islands of India, some of great beauty extending even to the alpine elevation of the Himalaya mountains. Their food is obtained principally from the interior of flowers; and they are almost constantly engaged, in small groups, on the twigs of trees and bushes, hopping about with a rapid motion, and at the same time moving their wings in a tremulous manner, while they insert their long beaks into the tubular blossoms in succession. Sometimes they have been observed to hover on the wing before a flower while probing its depths, but this is rare, the ordinary mode of procedure being to cling to the twigs. Occasionally they are seen to snap at a passing insect in the air; and judging from the analogy of the Hummingbirds, we should conclude that insects are the principal object of search in the corollas of flowers, the nectarious juice contributing but partially to their support. And this is confirmed by the observations of Dr. Andrew Smith, on some species of Southern Africa :-" The birds of the genus Cinnyris (or Nectarinia) have generally been regarded as feeding upon the saccharine juices which exist in flowers; but, as far as my experience goes, I should be inclined to consider them as giving a preference to insects. In those I examined I found the bulk of the contents of the stomach to be insects, though at the same time each contained more or less of a saccharine juice. The acquisition of a certain portion of the latter is not easily to be avoided, considering the manner they insert their bill into flowers; but the consumption of insects of such a size as I have found in their stomachs must easily be obviated, provided these were not agreeable to their palates, and not actually a description of food which they by choice selected." Some of these birds add the charm of song to that of brilliancy of plumage. Freycinet says of some species:-"At night they have a lengthened song, the modulations of which are very agreeable," and the music of one has been compared to that of the Nightingale. The nest of the Sun-birds is commonly suspended, of a globose form, having an opening on one side, generally near the bottom. Mr. Jerdon, in the "Madras Journal of Science," has thus described that of Nectarinia mahrattensis, (LATH.): "I have seen the nest of this pretty little bird close to a house at Joulnah. It was commenced on a thick spider's web, by attaching to it various fragments of paper, cloth, straw, grass, and other substances, till it had secured a firm hold of the twigs to which the web adhered, and the nest, suspended on this, was then completed by adding other fragments of the same materials; the hole is at the one side, near the top, and has a slight projecting roof or awning over it." We select, for illustration, the Splendid Sunbird (Nectarinia splendida, SHAW) of West Africa, one of the most gorgeous of the tribe. It is thus described by Sir W. Jardine :-"The back of the neck, shoulders, and upper and under tailcoverts, are brilliant golden green, varying with every change of light; the head and throat are steel-blue, in some lights appearing as black, in others as rich violet; across the breast there appears, in most lights, a band of scarlet, but in some positions it appears as if banded with steelblue, golden-green, or violet, and at times to be almost entirely composed of one of those tints; this is occasioned by the structure of the feathers; |