358 A'Esrs AiVD eggs of Australian birds. 



297. — AcANTHOUHYNCHUS TENUiROSTRis, Latham. (339) 



SPINE BILL. 



Figure.— Gonld : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iv., pi. 6i. 



Rejenncc. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. ix,, p. 144. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould: Birds of Australia (itl4S) , also 

 Handbook, vol. I., p. 552 (1865) ; North; Austn. Mus. Cat.,p. 220, 

 pi. 12, fig. 20 (i88g); Campbell; Proc. Austn. .-\ssoc . vol vii . 

 p. 582 (1898). 



Geographical Distribution. — Queeuslaiid, New South Wales, Victoria, 

 South Australia, Tasmania, King Island, and Fm-neaux Gi-oup. 



Xed. — Cup-shaped, small, deep ; composed outwardly of moss chiefly 

 and bark; lined inside with grass, finished off warmly with feathers; 

 usually placed in a tliick bush such as prickly acacia or among the 

 close branchlets of a banksia, exocarpus, or neai' the top of a tea^tree 

 (Melaleuca). Dimensions over all, 3^ inches by 2 inches in depth; 

 e^g cavity, 1| inches across by 1^ inches deep. 



Eggs — Clutch, two to thi'ee ; sharply pointed oval in fonu ; textiu'e 

 fine ; surface shghtly glossy ; colouf, pale buff, dehcately spotted, 

 especially about the apex, with chestnut and obsciue piu-plish-g^-ey. 

 Dimensions of a clutch in inches ; (1) -75 x -oT, (2) '74 x -55. 



A set from Tasmania is larger, rounder, and the markings of a 

 richer brown, the groiuid-coloui' being also of a darker shade on the 

 apex: (1) -72 x 53, (2) -72 x -53, (3) •72x-52. 



Observations. — This ruby-eyed, slender-biUed Houeyeater enjoys 

 chiefly a southern habitat. The plumage of the Spine Bill, though not 

 gay, is rich. The head is black, rest of the upper sm-face dark; 

 undei'neath suiiace chestnut, excepting the throat; cheeks and chest 

 white, with a patch of brown deepening into black at the lower edge 

 on the throat; bill and feet dark. Total length, 5j inches; wing, 2g 

 inches; tail, 2| inches; bill, 1 inch; feet, j inch. It is an intensely 

 interesting and familiarly known bird in private gai'dens, where it may 

 often be heard repeating faster and faster its single high-pitched note, 

 and where the bird appreciates the nectar of the fuchsia bells just as 

 well as the sweets from tubular blooms of epacris growing in native 

 heath-UJke tracts. I have watched Spine Bills in my own garden, at 

 Armadale, gatheiing pollen from the so-called Chinese-lantern flowers 

 ( Abutiliiii). They do so on the TOng, fluttering Humming Bird-hke 

 while probing the bell-shaped flowers for food. 



Not much is known of the breeding economy of tlie httle Spine 

 Bill, consequently its eggs are deemed rare. Except one nest con- 

 taining young found many years ago at Toorak, near Melbourne, I was 

 imable to observe tliis Spine Bill's nest in the open till one day (20th 

 November, 1896), when Mr. G. E. Shepherd, my son, and myself were 

 exploring an enchanting gully near Somerville. Here we discovered 

 in the space of about half-a-mile tlu-ee nests — two building, and one 

 with eggs. One nest was prettily ensconced in a bunch of flowering 



