60 MEI.IPHAGID.E. 



black; legs and /eft black; irif: white. Total lengllt in the flesli, 7'~'i incliea, ivitiy S'l, tail o'l, 

 bill 0-78, tarsus OS-'). 



Adult female — Tlie .le.ves are alike in jilumage. 



Distribution — Southern Queensland, New South Wales, Mctoria, South Australia, Tasmania 

 and some of the larger Islands of Bass Strait. 



^¥^HIS familiar and attractive species is freely distributed throughout the greater portion of 

 -L South-eastern Australia, and is also common in Tasmania. It is resident throughout 

 the year, and evinces a decided preference for the low scrubby undergrowth of the coastal 

 districts, where the Banhsia and other nectar-bearing trees abound. Nowhere have I seen it 

 so abundant as in the neighbourhood of Sydney, particularly at Long Bay, La Perouse, and 

 around the shores of Botany Bay ; also, about Middle Harbour, and from INIanly on to Narra- 

 been. It is also met with in greatly decreased numbers in swampy parts of the Blue Mountains, 

 but I have never seen it in the level country on the western side of the range. Lively in action 

 its richly contrasted plumage is displayed to advantage, as it flits from shrub to shrub in search 

 of insects, or to extract the nectar from some flower with its peculiarly brush-like tongue, so well 

 adapted for the purpose. During the hot midsummer months of some vears, it may be seen in 

 large numbers feeding on insects in the large Fig-trees (Fictts luacvophylla) in Hyde Park, and 

 other public parks and gardens of Sydney. They are, however, irregular in their appearance. In 

 January and February igo2, during a period of drought these birds were unusually numerous, but 

 I have not seen them since, although the bush-fires were very prevalent in the neighbourhood 

 of Sydney in January 1905, and were likely to affect their food supply. These birds may 

 also occasionally be seen in the Botanic Gardens, Sydney, and I have seen them at Melbourne 

 and Adelaide in similar public gardens and resorts. The first nest of this Honey-eater I ever 

 found was in the Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, and in addition to a full complement of eggs, it 

 also contained one of the Rufous-tailed Bronze Cuckoo (Lamprococcyx hasalis). 



The single note of this species is shrill and loud, but when disturbed by an intruder it is 

 rapidly uttered several times, and generally when perched on some coign of vantage, as the top 

 of some neighbouring bush, or clinging to the side of a grass-tree stem. 



Stomachs of these birds I have examined contained only the remains of insects. Although 

 the numerous members of this family are called Honey-eaters and feed largely on the nectar of 

 flowers, insects as a rule form the staple article of the diet of most of them. A less number in 

 addition to the nectar of flowers, show a preference for wild or cultivated fruits, while some 

 species partake of all these diets. 



The nest is an open cup-shaped structure, and generally rather roughly formed externally 

 of strips of bark, thin plant stalks, and dried grasses matted up and held together with cob-webs 

 and the silky egg-bags of spiders, the inside being neatly lined with finer plant stalks and at the 

 bottom most frequently with athick layer ofthe red downy tufts oiBanksia cones; at other times 

 with the woolly portions of the Flannel-flower, or small dead flowers, thistle-down when procurable 

 or any soft and warm material. Some nests are more neatly made than others and assimilate 

 in colour to their surroundings. When built in the upright fork of a Melaleuca, ihe nest is often 

 constructed externally of strips of the paper-like bark of that tree, dark brown bark is often used 

 when constructed in a Banhsia, and spider's web and white egg-bags are largely used when built 

 in the young and light green rigid spine-like leaves of an Hakea. The frame work of a nest I 

 found in one of the latter shrubs at Canterbury in April 1894, was formed entirely of these 

 materials. An average nest measures externally three inches in diameter, by two inches and 

 a half in depth, the inner cup measuring two inches in diameter by one inch and a half in 

 depth. In the neighbourhood of Sydney the nest is usually built in an upright pronged-fork 

 of one of the above mentioned trees, sometimes in a mass of creepers, or stunted gum sapling, 



