NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 413 



The species under notice, commonly called the New Holland Honey- 

 eater, has its focus of iiumlH'j-s in Victoria and Tasmania, including 

 islands in Bass Strait, the hints thinning out to South Australia on the 

 one hand, and up to Southern Queensland on the other. 



The coast-al scrubs of tea-tree ( Lepto.ipernium ), interspersed with 

 banksias, are the delight of the familiar New Holland, where its loud, 

 shrill, and scolding note is always heard. It regales itself on the nectar 

 of tlie flowering cones, or " honeysuckles " as they were first called, of 

 the banksias, whih' through half the year individuals may be found 

 nesting in the wann and sheUcrcd scrub. 



Tliese interesting birds may frequently be seen airing their golden- 

 edged wings in the private gardens of Toorak, as well as in the more 

 public domains near Melbourne. It is also pleasing to observe this 

 attractive bird in the dry and arid niallec tracts where the scrub is 

 intersected with belts of dwarf tea-tree (MeJnletim I bearing puce- 

 coloured flowers. In such countiy I found two nests with a pair of 

 eggs each during October 1884 



I well recollect the first nest of this species I chanced to find. It 

 was situated in a thick bush near Brighton, November, 1880. 



It is interesting to note the variation of materials used in nest-lining 

 in different localities. The mallee nests were lined with rabbit fiu- ajid 

 soft grass-seeds. Another nest from the Upper Wen-ibee was funiished 

 entirely with small calyxes of soft yellowish-white flowers belonging to 

 some shrub. 



I have never found more than three eggs or young in a nest of this 

 Honeyeater, but Mr. A. E. Brent informs me he has occasionally found 

 four to a clutch in Tasmania. 



I have observed the egg of the Narrow-billed Brown Cuckoo in the 

 White-bearded Honeyeater's nest. This Honeyeater is also a foster- 

 parent of the Pallid Cuckoo. 



Tlie principal breeding months are from August to December or 

 Januaiy, but individuals occasionally lay much earlier in the season, 

 as the following dates prove: On the 24th May, 1885, my friend and 

 sportsman, Mr. J. F. Bradly, while shooting at Mordialloc, observed a 

 nest of a White-bearded Honeyeater containing two fresh eggs ; while 

 Mr. Scott, on 1st July, 1884, saw a nest with young birds. 



347. — Meliornis novjE hollandls: (sub-species) longirostris, 

 Gould.— <297) 



LONG-BILLED HONEYEATER. 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iv., pi. 24. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. ix., p. 254. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould : Birds of Australia (1848) ; also 

 Handbook, vol. i., p. 48c) (1865) ; North : .'\ustn. Mus. Cat., 

 p. 192 (1889); Campbell: Proc. .Austn. -Assoc, vol. vii., 

 p. 632 (18981. 



Geographical Distribution. — South and West Australia. 



