SUN-BIRD, a name more or less in use for many years, 1 and now generally accepted as that of a group of 1 Certainly since 1826 (cf . Stephens, Gen. Zoology, xiv. pt. 1, p. 229). Swainson (Nat. Hist. and Classif. Birds, i. p. 145) says they are “so called by the natives of Asia in allusion to their splendid and shining plumage,” but gives uo hint as to the nation or language wherein the name originated. By the French they have been much longer known as “Souimangas,” from the Madagascar name of one of the species given in 1658 by Flacourt as Soumangha. over 100 species of small birds, but when or by whom it was first applied is uncertain. Most of them are remarkable for their gaudy plumage, and, though those known to the older naturalists were for a long while referred to the genus Certhia (Tree-creeper, q.v.) or some other group, they are now fully recognized as forming a valid Family Nectariniidae, from the name Nectarinia invented in 1811 by Illiger. They inhabit the Ethiopian, Indian, and Australian Regions, and, with some notable exceptions, the species mostly have but a limited range. They are considered to have their nearest allies in the Meliphagidae (cf. Honey-eater, vol. xii. p. 139) and the members of the genus Zosterops; but their relations to the last require further investigation. Some of them are called “Humming-birds” by Anglo-Indians and colonists, but with that group, which, as before indicated (Humming-bird, vol. xii. p. 357), belongs to the Picamεe, the Sun-birds, being true Passeres, have nothing to do. Though part of the plumage in many Sun-birds gleams with metallic lustre, they owe much of their beauty to feathers which are not lustrous, though yet almost as vivid, and the most wonderful combination of the brightest colours—scarlet, ...