30 THE SUN-BIRDS 1. The Sun-birds are of small and delicate make and the majority of the males are clothed in resplendent metallic plumage, and they are therefore easy of recognition as a group. They are found solitary or in pairs and being entirely of arboreal habits they feed on minute insects and the nectar of flowers. The males have a short but pretty song in the breeding season. The birds of the Aethopyga genus are brilliantly dressed in metallic green or blue, crimson, yellow and purple. They have metallic green or crimson tails, the middle pair of feathers prolonged. Certain varieties like the Indian Yellow-backed Sun-bird, the Fire-tailed Yellow-backed Sun-bird, and the Nepal Yellow-backed Sun-bird are common in the Himalayan valleys of North India and Nepal. They are evidently the gaviger (Golden-flower) of the garden of Indra described in the ga, ch. 39, 18:- "नानावर्णैश्च शकुनैः नानारत्नतनूरुहै: सुवर्णपुष्पैचानेकैः मणितुण्डद्विजातिभिः" These Sun-birds of multicoloured and shining plumage are comparable with the still smaller Humming Birds of America described as "jewels on wings", and it is interesting to note that their Indian counterparts too have been portrayed as possessing 'a be-jewelled plumage'- "akade" in the above verse. They have been beautifully described by at under the name of affeafor (ff to tinkle or jingle, referring to their sweet jingling song):- "मनः शिलाभिवंदनविहङ्गा यत्राक्षिभिः स्फाटिकसन्निभैश्च शादैच (v.I. श्यावैश्य) पक्षैरतिलोहितान्तैः माजष्ठकैरर्धसितंच पादैः चितैः सुवर्णच्छदनैस्तथान्यैः वैदूर्यनीलनंयनः प्रसन्नंः विहङ्गमा शीञ्जिरिकाभिधाना स्तैर्मनः श्रोतहरे भ्रमन्ति" सौन्दरनन्द, 10.29-30. 2. The Purple Sun-bird, common throughout India, is and , (the Bee or Honey-Bird, cf. Urdu, w for it), so named from its small size, glistening black plumage, and the habit of collecting honey from the flowers. It is mentioned as मधुकर in वायुपुराण, 36.5:- The Sun-Birds “मदोत्कटै मधुकरैः भ्रमरैश्च महालसैः उपगीत वनान्तानि किन्नरैश्च क्वचित् क्वचित्" 115 It is known in Hindi as फुलचुही which is synonymous with पुष्पंधय (flower- sucker), the same as or . Gorressio's edition of the Rámāyaṇa also mentions the bird as # at 2.56.11 according to the St. Petersberg Dictionary.
