A20 NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



351. — Myzantha (Manorhina) garrula, Latham.- — (353) 

 MINER. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iv., pi. 76. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. ix., p. 260. 



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



also Handbook, vol. i., p. 575 (1865) ; North : Austn. Mus. 



Cat., p. 229, pi. 12, fig. 2 (1889) ; Campbell : Proc. Austn. 



Assoc, vol. vii., p. 639 {1898). 



Geographical Distribution. — South Queenslanrl, Now Soutli Wales, 

 Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. 



Nest. — CJup-shaped, constructed of fine twigs and gra-sses or dead 

 flowering stalks of plants (herbs), or sometimes chiefly rootlets, occasion- 

 ally ornamented with spiders' cocoons ; lined inside with a ply of very 

 fine gi'ass, b.irk, or white cottonv substances ; sometimes hair, wool. 

 &c., are added ; usually situated amongst the thin forked branchlets of 

 a low tree, sapling or bush. Dimensions over all, 6 to 7 inches by 4 

 inches deep ; egg cavity, 3A inches across by 2i inches deep. (See 

 illustration.) 



EgffS. — Clutch, three to four, rarely five; oval or round oval in 

 form ; textiire fine ; surface glossy ; colour, warm-white, mottled and 

 spotted all over, more thickly on the apex, with rich reddish-chestnut 

 and purplish-gi-ey. Dimensions in inches of a pair taken in Tasmania : 

 (1) M X -79, (2) 1-1 X -78; of a full clutch from the mainland: 

 U) 104 X -78, (2, 1-04 X -76, (3) 1-03 x -78, (4) 1-02 x -77. (Plate 14.) 



Ohserrntinns. — The familiar Miner, or. as it is called in some parts, 

 the Soldier Bird, is one of the most common of our Honeyeaters. 

 Tlie bird is about ten inches long, and wears a greyish-brown dress, 

 lighter in colour on the underneath parts, and with an agreeable 

 yellowish tinge on the wings. Tliere is some black about the back of 

 the head, a naked space beneath the eyes (which are hazel) while bill 

 and feet are yellow. The flight is peculiar. When the bird is flying 

 the wings move very rapidly ; all the while the bird appears struggling 

 and making very slow progi-ess. They were first called Miners in Tas- 

 mania* ; why I know not. Wherever you meet the birds, whether near 

 the coastal scrub, in belts of timber along the river, on a plain, or in the 

 mallee, by their scolding voices they at once make their presence known, 

 and yours too. should you happen to be stalking upon rarer game. How- 

 ever common and annoving the birds mav be, the shapelv-built nest and 

 reddish-coloured eggs are both veiT beautiful. 



Two eggs I took from a nest near that grand natural sight — Corra 

 Linn, Tasmania — were slightlv larger than those generally taken in 

 Victoria. Tliis agrees with Goiild's observations that the Miner in 



• The reason why these birds were first called Miners appears to have been Inst 

 in obscurity. However, I have elected to call all the Myzanihif Miners instead of 

 Minahs which'are totally different birds. 



