26o /VESTS AND EGGS 01 AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



Nest. — Cup-shaped, small, but long or deep ; composed of soft 

 shreds of bark, matted outwardly witii eottou-like substance, cocoons, 

 portions of moss, grass, &c. ; inside lined with mixtiu'c of soft vegetable 

 matter such as rootlets, small leaves, &c., in other instances chiefly with 

 soft reddish-coloured bark, and sometimes with fui- or hair; usually 

 situated at a good height from the ground, suspended in a swaying 

 branch of a eucalypt or among the topmost branches of a tall sapling. 

 Dimensions over all, 2^ inches by 2 to 3 inches in depth ; egg cavity, 

 lA inches across by \.\ to 1| inches deep. 



Eyys. — Clutch, two to thi'ee ; inclined to oval in form ; texture 

 fine ; faint trace of gloss on the sui-face ; colour, delicate or pale- 

 buff, mai'ked chiefly round the apex with reddish-brown or chestnut 

 and duU-grey. Dimensions of a clutch in inches: (1) 'TGx-Sl, 

 (2) -76 X -51, (3) -75 X -5. (Plate 13.) 



Observatiuns. — There are eight or nine members of this well-defined 

 genus of Honeyeaters, all shapely and active birds, mostly confining 

 their attention to tall eucalypt.s for honey and insects. The Liuiulated 

 (crescent-marked) Honeyeater may be taken as a type of the genus. It 

 is about five inches m length, wearing a greenish-olive coat and white 

 under surface. Head black, relieved with a white crescent-shaped 

 mai'k on the back of the head; hence, I suppose, the vernacular title, 

 kmulated. But all the MelifJinpti have this crescent or new-moon- 

 shapcd markings more or less defined, except the Black-capped of 

 Tasmania, whose poll is totally black. 



Tliis species is a fine and familiar little creature, and its plaintive 

 half-wliistling, half-hissing note is well known when heard amongst the 

 " forest rafters." It is a pretty sight to sec the birds clinging to and 

 feeding amongst a cluster of flowering loranthus (mistletoe). 



The habitat of the Lunulated or White-napcd Honcj'cater is some- 

 what extensive, extending from Southern Queensland roimd to South 

 AustraUa. It is interesting to note that this Honeyeater was found 

 on Kent Group, Bass Strait, by the expedition of the Field Naturalists' 

 Club of Victoria, November, 1890. 



Within its usual boundaries the bird is fairly plentiful. I recollect 

 there was something akin to an inuption of this bird once in the 

 vicinity of Melbourne, notably in gardens at Windsor. It occm-red 

 about the season 1866, when I remember particularly the so-called Cape 

 wattles (but really a South-west Austrahan variety of acacia or 

 albizzia, from whence it was introduced into Victoria by the late 

 Baron von Mueller) being crowded with birds feeding amongst the 

 flowers. As boys, we had no difiiculty in " shanghaing " as many as 

 we wanted, and that was so long as the poor bii-ds remained in the 

 trees to be aimed at. That these birds flock occasionally is further 

 evidenced from one of Mr. H. E. Hill's " Bcndigo Bird Notes:"- — 

 "On one occasion (31st August, 1895) near Strathfieldsaye, I came 

 across a gi'eat flock of MeJithreytun iunulatus, which must have been 

 two or three hundred strong. At a little distance they looked precisely 

 like a lot of sparrows." 



