Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/82

66 with shreds of cobweb, until the birds feel that they have made their future home a thoroughly disreputable object, like nothing so much as the unsightly collections of rubbish which one often sees gathered about the ruins of the deserted web of some large garden spider. And this, in fact, is just what you are meant to take it for. Finally, the nest is well stuffed inside with silk cotton, and the hen bird settles down to her maternal duties, cozy and secure, with her chin resting on the window sill, so that she can see the passers-by. There are just two eggs, of a greenish white colour, with brown spots gathered in a ring round the larger end. But as a rule, I think, only one of the two is hatched. There are probably two broods in the year, and nests may be found at any season. They last long after the birds have done with them and are common objects on the trees.

Another species of Sunbird, which Jerdon calls the Purple Honeysucker (Arachnecthra asiatica), may frequently be met with in Bombay, though it is not nearly so common here as in the Deccan. The foundation colour of this kind may be said to be black, but it glitters all over with a sheen which ranges from green to purple. The female is very like that of the last. I have seen a third species in Bombay, the rare and splendid Arachnecthra lotenia (Loten's Sunbird), which Mr. Gates seems to say is not found further north than Ratnagiri. It is very like the last, but is larger and has a noticeably longer and more curved bill. Two other very lovely species are found on the hills, but they have no right to a place in this paper. We have, however, one pther bird which is classed by Jerdon with the