\ESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. ^j j 



345.' — MeLIORNIS AU8TRALAS1ANA, Shaw. (300) 



CRESCENT HONEYEATER. 



Fi^KCt— Gould ; Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iv., pi 27. 



Rtfercnct. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. ix.. p. 252. 



Previous Descriptions 0/ ij^gs.— Campbell ; Southern Science Record 



(1883) ; North : Austn. Mus. Cat , p 195, pi. 12, fig. 17 (1889) ; 



Campbell : Proc. Austn. Assoc, vol. vii., p. 630 (189S). 



Geo(jraphicol Distrihutimi. — South Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and islands in Bass Strait. 



Nesl. — Cup-shaped, deep, with thick-built sides; composed of some- 

 what broad strips of filrhihucd, itc.) bark, protected with a loose but 

 goodly .supply of twigs ; tiniily lined inside with fine grass, and on the 

 bottom with fine reddish flowering stalks of moss ; usually placed low in 

 thick imder scrub, in sword-grass or in fenis, in forest. Dimensions 

 over all, 4 to 5 inches by 3 inches in depth ; egg cavity, 1 J inches across 

 by IJ inches deep. 



EgfjK. — Clutch, three ; stout oval in shape ; te.xture of shell fine ; 

 surface veiy slightly glossy ; colour, delicate fleshy-tint, darker on the 

 apex, which is boldly spotted and marked, usually in the form of a belt, 

 with rich pinkish-red or redtUsh-chestnut, and dull purplish-brown or 

 grey. Dimensions in inches of a clutch taken in Tasmania ; (1) 79 x -56, 



(2) '78 X 'oS. A set taken in Victoria is smaller in size, and beautiful 

 for dchcate character and lovely markings : (1) -75 x -54, (2) -73 x -54, 



(3) •72X-55. 



Observations. — This splendid little Honeyeater dwells in the depths 

 of forests, especially where the thick undergrowth gi-ows in moist or 

 swampy places, or in mountain watercourses. Tlie bird has a range 

 from South Queensland to Tasmania. 



It seems a misnomer to call the bird Tasmanian, for although it is 

 numerous on that island it is by no means uncommon in favoured 

 localities on the mainland. The black lunar-shaped mark down each 

 side of the breast of the male naturally suggests " Crescent " or " Hoi-se- 

 shoe " as a more appropriate and at once distinctive name for this 

 Honeyeater. The female is, however, destitute of the horse-shoe 

 markings, a fact in favom- of separating the species, as it was formerly, 

 under the genus Lichmera, from the Meliornes, which have the sexes 

 alike in plumage. 



The first nest I found of the Crescent Honeyeater was in 1879, in 

 dense teartree scrub that marked the course of Scotchman's Creek, near 

 Oakleigh. Unfortunately it contained young. Guided by the cue for 

 time and place, the following season (in September), almost in the exact 

 spot, I found another nest, prettily situated a foot or two from the gi'ound 

 in a bunch of graceful coral fern (Gleichenia ) that was supported by the 

 scrub, containing a richly coloured clutch of three eggs. 



