Volume 36, Plate XVI / Ornithology (Birds)

Violet-Headed Sun-Bird

Nectarinia violacea

A native of Southern Africa, the male nearly six inches, with head and upper back dark golden-green varied with purple and bronze, the lower parts yellowish oil-green, a brilliant violet-purple patch on breast and throat, the lower breast deep reddish-orange shading to gamboge, and king’s-yellow tufts. Abundant near the Cape but preferring mountains, it descends to gardens when flowers and orange trees blossom, the male singing a quick warble and nesting in thick bushes with white, brown-dotted eggs.