NESTS AND EGGS OF AVSTHATJAN BIRDS. 



417 



lined sparingly with rootlets and fino twigs, and on the bottom with 

 downy seeds; usually fastened by the rim as if sewn bv spiders' web 

 to the horizont,Tl twigs of a bush or small tree, sometimes attached to 

 a braekcn frond, in forest eountiy. Dimensions over all, 3 to 4 incites 

 by 2 inches in depth; egg cavity, 21 inches across by IJ inches deep. 

 (See illustration.) 



Egnn. — Clutch, two, rai-ely three; long-o^'al or oval in form; 

 toxtiu'e fine ; sui-faoe glossy ; beautiful rich flesh-colour, distinctly marked 

 and spotted, more especially on the api^x, with rich chestnut- or reddish- 

 brown and dull purplish-brown. Dimensions of a clutch in inches: 

 en -9.-1 X ■6.'i, (2) -9 X -63, (Piatt- 14.) 



Ohservniinnx. — This Honeyeater has an esthetic plumage of golden- 

 green, the small naked spaces behind the dai-k-brown eyes arc red, 

 while the bill and feet are yellowish. Total length. 7 inches and 8 

 inches. 



Captain Grant, when in Western Port, Victoria, 1801, wrote: — 

 " Among the birds noticed was the Bell Bird, which has a note not 

 unlike the tinkling of a bell, so that when a number of these birds are 

 collected together, the noise they make is similar to that made by the 

 bolls of a team of horses." 



" Softer than slumber, and sweeter than singinp. 

 The notes of the bell-birds are running and ringing. " 



Kendall. 



Some romance and sentiment have been attached t.O' the Bell Bird. 

 It has not the sprightly appearance of the Oreoica- — the Bell Bird of 

 the drier provinces of the interior. 



Bell Miner is a good vema^-ular name, becau.se the bird is cloeelv 

 connected with the Myzanfho' ; moreover, the name serves to distin- 

 guish it from the other Bell Bird. Yet the Bell Miner is livelv enough 

 in its actions, and is for ever examining in a most inquisitive manner 

 and picking at the green gum foliage in search of food. A querist 

 writes : — " The great curiosity of the Bell Bird to my idea is ' What 

 does it feed upon?' It picks continuou-sly at the back of the gum 

 leaves in the same trees from year to year, and although I have crept 

 to within a few yards of them when feeding on the apple and yellow- 

 box send), and plucked the leaves aftei-wards and examined them, 

 I could discover nothing. Perhaps it sucks a saccharine matter off the 

 leaves, like the Blue-Wlicd Lorikeet and the King PaiTot do off the 

 stringv-barks at certain seasons of the year. I should like someone who 

 ha.s studied the birds i-o kindly answer this." 



Tlie Bell Miner is very local, is gregarious to an extent, living in 

 companies in certain restricted areas chiefly near water or hvimid 

 swnmpv tracts in South Qucen.sland. New South Wales, and Victoria. 



Tn the early days of the State of Victoria, Bell Birds used to exist 

 in tlic» tea-tree (Melnlnim ) tracts in the neighboiu-hood of Mordialloc 

 and in the timber along the course of the Werribec River and on the 

 Yarra above Hawthorn. The birds were never destroyed, yet they 

 have mysteriouslv disappeared — prohablv removed to other forest 

 27 ■ 



