Ai:S/S .\.\V i-UCS Ol- AU SI KALIAN BIRDS. 



391 



There arc three distiuct inarkiiigs ou tlie side of the face — black, 

 yellow, and while resj)eclively. Takmg it altogether it is a shapely 

 bird, with dark-browu eyes. Its size is about that of Lewin's. 



I do not think auy Honeyoater enjoys such a widespread range as 

 the >Singiug lioneyeater, which has been observed in almost every part 

 of the Continent, the heavier-forested parts excepted. I have liad the 

 pleasure of linding their nests and delicately coloured flcsh-tiuted eggs 

 both in the cast and in the west of Austraha, therefore I am able to 

 attest to the diflcrence of structure (the nests of the western birds being 

 tile heavier built) as pointed out by Gould. 



The first nest I took (October, 1884) was in the Malice country, 

 near Nhill, Victoria, where I observed the birds building in a bull-oak 

 (CasuarinaJ, and subsequently obtained a pair of beautiful eggs from it. 

 My last find was a well-built nest placed a few feet from the ground in a 

 short growtii of tea-tree (Mi/aliiifiiJ scrub, Quindalup (West Australia). 

 This nest, from which I Hushed the bird, cont;iined a lovely set of 

 three eggs. The Singing Honeyoater is one of the most common birds 

 I met with in Western Australia. It is found breeding in orchards, 

 where I noticed old nests in orange and lemon trees. In one garden 

 I watched a fine bird clinging to a large head of bluish flowers ( Erhiuin), 

 busily probing each flower for lioney with the same rapidity as a 

 domestic fowl would pick up gi'ain. 



Why is the bird called the "Singing" Honeyeatcr? Gould says its 

 song is " full, clear, and loud." All I could ever hear, save a few 

 chattering notes, was " cr-iook, cr-rook," uttered while the bird, with 

 graceful flight, passed from tree to tree.* 



Mr. Hermann Lau, in his M.S. notes from Darling Downs 

 (Queensland), says: — " Ptilotis vitl/ita /si,,i(,ni), locally called the 

 Large-striped Honeyeater, gets its name from the yellow line over the 

 eyes. This bird loves hanging its cratlle on the lower branches of a 

 casuarina, near water, on the outskirts of a thicket. Tlie cradle, or 

 ratlier hammock, is made of grass, with rootlets for a floor ; has 

 sometimes three eggs. Cunningham's Gap, October, 1876.' 



Writing to me from Yoike Peninsula (South Austraha), Mr. James 

 G. Macdongall includes a curious note:-— "The Singing Honeyeater 

 builds a small and airy nest of wool, hair, and fine gra.ss interlaced with 

 twigs of tea-tree and she-oak, without lining ; eggs, two, but sometimes 

 three. In October, 1886, I foimd a nest of this bird tenanted by two 

 hens, and containing five eggs, three of which were the usual colour 

 and two piu'e white." 



Breeding .season includes the months from the end of July or the 

 beginning of August to December. Several clutches of these eggs were 

 taken in West Australia by the Calvert Expedition during August, 

 1896. Occasionally they were the only kinds observed on the sandhills. 



* A late note from Mr. Tom Carter, North-West Cape, where the bird is a 

 common resident, states : — " The Singing Honeyeater has not much variety of 

 song, although it makes a great many calls at this season (June) just at dawn. 

 The birds are numerous in the thickets, where you may hear them singing one 

 against another, .\lthough only a double note, numbers make quite a chorus." 



