"[66] The
trees referred to are species of Eucalyptus which abound in Timor. They
have whitish or yellowish bark and very open foliage, and it is the
intense sunlight casting black curved shadows of one branch upon
another, with the white and yellow bark and deep blue sky seen through
openings of the foliage, that produces the peculiar combination of
colours and shadows to which the colours and markings of this bird have
become so closely assimilated.
Even such brilliant and gorgeously coloured birds as the sun-birds of
Africa are, according to an excellent observer, often protectively
coloured. Mrs. M.E. Barber remarks that "A casual observer would
scarcely imagine that the highly varnished and magnificently coloured
plumage of the various species of Noctarinea could be of service to
them, yet this is undoubtedly the case. The most unguarded moments of
the lives of these birds are those that are spent amongst the flowers,
and it is then that they are less wary than at any other time. The
different species of aloes, which blossom in succession, form the
principal sources of their winter supplies of food; and a legion of
other gay flowering plants in spring and summer, the aloe blossoms
especially, are all brilliantly coloured, and they harmonise admirably
with the gay plumage of the different species of sun-birds.
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