Volume 36, Plate XIII / Ornithology (Birds)

Amethyst-Throated Sun-Bird

Nectarinia amethystina

One of the largest species, five and a half to six inches, the male’s plumage deep velvety brownish black with a play of purple, a dark emerald-green coronal patch, an oval amethystine-purple throat patch and violet feathers on the wing-joint and tail-coverts, the axillary tufts wanting. The female is olive-brown with black throat and streaked olive beneath; ranging from the Auteniquoi country and Gamtoos to Western Africa, it nests in bushes and tree-holes with five grey eggs.