.MELIOHNIS. 61 



or placed between Banksia cones. Some nests are well concealed, but as a rule they are the 

 most easily found of any bird, in the locations this species frequents. One I found at Canterbury 

 containing young, was placed on the top of a low bush and was entirely devoid of shelter or of 

 an attempt at concealment of any kind. In parks and gardens any suitable shrub is selected. 



The eggs are two or three in number for a sitting, varying from oval to elongate and thick 

 oval in form, occasionally they are somewhat sharply pointed at the smaller end ; the shell is 

 close-grained, smooth and more or less lustrous. Typically the ground colour varies from a pale 

 buff to a creamy-bufif which is freckled and spotted with different shades of reddish-chestnut, or 

 purplish-brown, the markings as a rule being larger and predominating on the thicker end where 

 they not infrequently form a well defined zone. Some specimens have a cap only on the larger 

 end, formed of confluent hair lines, short wavy streaks and ill-shapen figures; while others have 

 a few scattered underlying spots and blotches of violet-grey. Occasionally sets may be found 

 with the ground colour almost pure white, and markings of a rich purplish-red, or a reddish-black 

 hue. A set of two taken at La Perouse, Botany Bay, on the 8th August 1892, measures: — 

 Length (A) 0-83 x o-66 inches; (B) o-8 x o-6 inches. A set of three taken at Canterbury, near 

 Sydney, on the 22nd April, 1894, measures : — Length (A) 078 x 0-57 inches; (6)079 ^ o-6 

 inches; (C) 078 x 0-58 inches. 



Nestlings are smoky-black above, the crown of the head having a lanceolate patch of black 

 feathers in the centre and tufts of long dark brown down on the sides, the quills dark brown, 

 narrowly margined with yellow on their outer webs ; throat and flanks smoky-black the rest of 

 the under surface dull white, the centre of the abdomen being devoid of feathers. 



Young birds are brown above, some of the scapulars and feathers on the back having smoky 

 black centres, wings and tail as in the adult ; crown of the head smoky-black, the forehead slightly 

 darker, the stripe on each side of the crown and nape dull white ; lores, feathers around the eye 

 and the ear-coverts dull black, tips of the feathers on the forehead, and the tuft of feathers on 

 the cheek dull yellow; chin and throat dusky-brown, remainder of the under surface dull white 

 washed with brown on the flanks, and broadly streaked on the upper breast with dull blackish- 

 brown. Wing 27 inches. 



These birds often select a certain belt of scrub and breed year after year within a few yards 

 of each other, but a new nest is constructed for each successive brood. Usually the female slips 

 away from the nest unobserved upon hearing the approach of an intruder, but not infrequently 

 will remain sitting until one is quite close, trusting to escape observation by keeping perfectly 

 still. When the nest contains young, although usually every symptom of parental solicitude is 

 exhibited, on many occasions the old birds were induced to make their appearance only by 

 my imitating the notes of a young bird in distress. I found the nests of this species near 

 Melbourne, Victoria, also in the scrubby undergrowth on the shores of Port Phillip Bay, between 

 Brighton and Frankston, but never in the numbers I have in New South Wales. 



As pointed out in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales in 1894,- I 

 had noted for four successive years in the neighbourhood of Sydney, that the New Holland Honey- 

 eater has two distinct breeding seasons in the year, and probably elsewhere, rearing a brood 

 in the clear, warm, genial days of April and May, and commencing to breed again from August 

 and continuing until the end of December; nests with eggs or young are however more frequently 

 found during August, September, and October. These are the normal breeding seasons, but 

 nests with eggs or young may occasionally be found throughout the year. On the 15th February, 

 1903, at Freshwater, near Manly, Mr. A. F. B. Hull found a nest partly lined with fowls' 

 feathers containing eggs, and another nest on the ist March following, also with two fresh eggs. 



* Proc Linn Soc. N S. Wales 2nd Series, Vol. X , p. 186 (1894), 



