NESTS A.\D i.i.,GS Uf ACS/ KA/JAX lilKl'S. j5y 



clematis at tliu top of a tea-lrcc ( Mila/aiatJ. This ucst was subse- 

 quently revisited by Mr. Sliepliurd, who foiuid iu il au egg of tlie Spine 

 Bill, together witii tlie much larger egg of the Pallid Cuckoo 

 (V. pallidum). A nest 1 found at Bayswater, November, 1898, was 

 very cui-ious by reason of sluiits of loug featliers that protruded from 

 the sides. The Spine Bills sometimes bmld ueai- the flowering mistle- 

 toes (Lorantlnis), upon which they feed. When they possess young, 

 the male and female generally lly and gather food together. 



Oruithologisl« are divided wiiether the Tasmauian Spine Bill should 

 be separated from the mainland species or not. Uowevcr, as Gould 

 pointed out, although very nearly alhed, there is a difference in the 

 two birds, the Tiismanian vaiiety being distinguished by its smaller 

 size (wliich is the reverse of the general rule as regards the insidar 

 representatives of the mainland species) and by the much deeper 

 colouring of the crescent-shaped markings on the neck, also of the 

 brown on the abdomen. 



The nests found by Gould, both in Tasmania and on the mainland, 

 were built in low shi-ubs a few feet from the gi-ound, mostly in a species 

 of leptospermum. 



The following is a description of a Tasmanian nest : — Cup-shaped, 

 deep ; composed of wool chiefly, grass and moss ; inside lined with 

 feathers. Dimensions over all, about 3 inches by '1\ inches in depth; 

 egg cavity, 2 inches across by 1^ inches deep. Mr. A. E. Brent has 

 usually found them in a bushy shrub, such as mimosa box or wattle- 

 trees. He once found the unusual complement of four eggs in a 

 Spine Bill's nest. He recollects talring a Tasmanian Spine Bill's nest 

 with three eggs, and within three weeks the bird had rebuilt the old 

 nest twice in another position in the same tree, laying each time 

 another set of three eggs. The curious part of the affair was that the 

 succeeding sets were much hghler in colour, the last being almost 

 white, with a few faint spots. Here may be a liiut on egg colouration, 

 in whicli it appears that in eggs produced frequently and rapidly the 

 colour pales out. 



Breeding season August or September to January ; the chief 

 months, both in Tasmania and on the mainland, being October to 

 December. 



Sub-family — Meliphagin^e. 



298. — Melithreptl's lunulatus, Shaw. — (349) 

 WHITE-NAPED HONEYEATER. 



Figui'c. — Gould : Birds of .Vustralia. lol , vol. iv., pi. 72. 



Hejcrcncc. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. ix.. p. 204. 



Previous Descriptions of Et;gs . ~ Goa\d : Birds of Australia (1848); also 

 Handbook, vol. I., p. 568 (1865) ; North; Austii. Mus. Cat.p. 227 

 (1889) ; Campbell : Proc. Austn. Assoc , vol. vii.. p. 5S5 (189S). 



Geayraphical Disfribufion. — South Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria. South Australia, and Kent Group (Bass Strait). 



