HECTARMIA OSEA. Bonap,
NECTARINIA OSEA, Bonap.
Jericho Sun-bird.
Cynnyris Osea-, Bonap. Compt. Rend, de l’Acad. Sci., tom. xlii. p. 765.
Nectarinia Osea, Trist. in Proc. of Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 445.—Id. in Ibis, New Ser. vol. i. (1865) p. 72, pi. ii.
I am indebted to Mr. and Mrs. Amhurst, of Didlington Park, Norfolk, for several examples of this beautiful
but hitherto little-known Sun-bird for illustration in the ‘ Birds of Asia,’ and also for a specimen of the plant
on which I have figured it, all o f which were obtained during their visit to Syria. Science is not less indebted
to the Rev. H. B. Tristram for the very interesting account of this bird published by him in the ‘ Ibis ’ for
1865, from which I take the liberty of extracting some interesting passages:—
“ O ur acquaintance with the Sun-bird commenced at Jericho, on the last day of the year, when six
specimens were obtained close to our camp at Ain Sultan. The oases of the plains o f Jericho appear to be
its metropolis. We never met with it except in the neighbourhood of w ater; but wherever a few tamarisks,
zizyphus bushes, or graceful ‘ retem ’ shade a fountain or straggling pool in some deep glen opening on
the Dead Sea, there a few occur. The larger oases, however, of Jericho at the north-west and Safieh at the
south-east end o f the Dead Sea are the resorts o f great numbers, which, though there to be found in almost
every tree, are nowhere gregarious. They are noisy and pugnacious, the males chasing each other with loud
cries, and being as tenacious o f their respective freeholds as the Robin of Europe. The note is clear and
monotonous, very much like the call of the Willow-Wren, but sharper, and often reminding one of that of
the Blue Tit, yet with a more hissing sound. It is incessantly repeated from sunrise to evening, and the
whereabouts o f the male bird can a t once be detected ; but to see him is not so easy, as he ceaselessly hops
in the centre of the thickest and most impenetrable scrub, and darts very quickly and suddenly across the
open from tree to tree. The male is extremely restless, and, as it twists and clings to one twig after another
in search of insects, its actions remind one o f those of the Tits much more than of those o f the Creeper.
Like Trichodroma muraria it opens and closes its wings with a curious jerking flap. Occasionally I have
seen two rivals for the favours of a female singing on the top of a tree, and puffing out their brilliant orange
and red axillary tufts, which only a t such times are at all conspicuous.
“ We found these Sun-birds plentiful by the wooded banks of the Jordan, but never far removed from
the stream, and ascertained that their summer range is more extensive than we had expected; for one
day in the month of March while shooting on the south side o f Mount Carmel, on the slopes which run
down to the Plain of Sharon, I secured a pair close to the edge o f the plain, and not far from the sea.
This was the only occasion on which we met with the bird far away from the Jordan valley; but I have
reason to believe it has been obtained in Asia Minor, as a French collector at Smyrna described to me a
bird he had once received from the interior, which could only, I think, have been a female of this
species.
“ In April I returned to our old quarters a t Ain Sultan, near Jericho, and in the afternoon of the 13th
I discovered no less than seven nests—one with three eggs in it, another with two hard-set, a third
in the course of construction, and four containing young birds. All were in precisely similar situations,
suspended from the extremity of a small twig hanging down in the centre of a ‘ nub k ’ tree, the thorny
branches of which spread in a circle so close to the ground that I had in every instance to creep on all
fours to get under them. These nests were perfectly inaccessible to the attacks of the serpents and lizards
which there abound,—and were very neatly made and compact internally, with a small hole in the
side, long straws and fibres being attached to the extremity of the drooping branch, and on these the bag
is woven; when finished, a few leaves and straggling straws are loosely fastened all round, to elude
observation and remove the appearance of art.
“ In form and size Nectarinia Osea resembles N . Asiatica, but has the upper portion of the axillary tufts
rich red instead of orange, and the metallic reflexions of the back and throat bright green in lieu of dark
purple, which colour only appears on the forehead and the lower part of the breast. It is also allied to
N . affinis from Abyssinia, but differs in the greater extent of the green instead of purple reflexions.
“ The male varies much in colour, and does not appear to attain the nuptial dress till after Christmas,
and loses it again in the summer. Not more than one in four of the males we shot in January was in full
plumage, the brilliant metallic reflexions o f the back, throat, and breast being interrupted by many brown
feathers; and I have several times taken paired and breeding birds in this incomplete livery.
“ T he female plumage is always brown grey above and lightish olive grey beneath, with palish-yellow vent
and under tail-coverts ; and the tail black, with metallic-green reflexions.”
The Plate represents the two sexes, of the natural size. The plant is Psoralea bituminosa.