MELIPHAGID*. 



Distribution. — New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Kangaroo Island, Western 

 Australia, Tasmania, and the larger Islands of Bass Strait. 



fjr^HE range of the Fulvous-fronted Honey-eater extends over the southern portions of the 

 J- Australian continent, the larger islands of Bass Strait, and Tasmania. It is principally 

 an inhabitant of the coastal districts, open heath lands or sandy wastes with a stunted and 

 scattered vegetation being its favourite haunts. Near Sydney, it is a common resident at Botany, 

 La Perouse and Middle Harbour, resorting chiefly to those parts, more or less covered with 

 Grcvilkas andBiviksias, and in which the Grass-tree ( Xanthorrhcea hastata ) flourishes. At Chatswood 

 and Roseville during September and October, I was surprised to see it frequenting the larger 

 Emalvpti in the open forest lands, my attention in each instance being attracted to it by its weird 

 notes. When disturbed it mounts high in the air and usually flies to a long distance, uttering 

 at the same time its mournful and plaintive notes, and which may also be often heard while the 

 bird is clinging to the stalk of a Grass-tree. As a rule it is a shy species, but while walking 

 along a main road to Middle Harbour, one of these birds settled within three feet of me. 

 They are, too, less cautious when searching for food on the long flowering spikes of the 

 Grass-trees in June and July, where I have often seen them in company with Mdithreptus 

 brevirostris, Meliornis sericea, Ptilotis fusai and P. chiysops. In the Illawarra District it may too 

 be frequently seen extracting nectar or insects from the corolla of the many flowers on the crown 

 of the long stem of the Gigantic Lily (Doryanthes e.xcclsa). The stomachs of these birds 

 examined contained the remains of insects, principally of small beetles. 



Mr. Edwin Ashby writes me as follows from Blackwood, South Australia :—•• G/rn'/'/(//rt 

 fiilvifiviis often \isits my garden. During the spring of 1904, a male used to frequently perch on 

 one of the wire arches, and seemed to get quite used to the presence of people, singing freely 

 when one was standing unconcerned, only a tew yards off." 



Mr. W. \\'. White informs me that he found this species breeding on Kangaroo Island, 

 South Australia, in September, 181)3. 



From Western Australia, JNIr.Tom Carter writes me: — •'Glvcyphiln fulvifrons is very numerous 

 around Albany. Nests with recently hatched young were found up to i6th February, 1905, and 

 one nest with two fresh eggs on the 23rd I-^bruary." 



The following notes were received while Dr. L. Holden was resident at Circular Head, 



Tasmania , " On the 3rd November, 1886, I found three nests of Glycyphila fnlvifrons, all within 



six inches of the ground. One built in a Melaleuca had a lining of white Epacris bloom, some 

 feathers and a little wool, another in a Banksia was lined with a good many feathers of the Swamp 

 Parrakeet ( Pczoporus fovmosus), and the third in an Epacris contained a number of the dried yellow 

 blossoms of a Mimosa. There were two eggs in each nest." 



The nest is a deep cup-shaped structure, outwardly formed of strips of bark and is lined 

 inside with dried grasses, and at the bottom with either small dead flowers, downy grass seeds, 

 pieces of Flannel Flower, or the vehety tufts of Bauhsia cones. Two nests received from Mr. 

 C. French, Junr., that were taken in the mallee scrub in North-western Victoria, were lined with 

 feathers, and a combination of rabbit fur and plant down. .\n average nest measures externally 

 three inches and a quarter in diameter by three inches and a half in depth, and the inner cup 

 two inches in diameter by two inches in depth. Generally it is slightly attached at the sides of 

 the rim and rests between several thin upright stems within six or eight inches from the ground, 

 sometimes it is placed upon it, and occasionally it is built as high as three feet. At Botany and 

 Middle Harbour I usually found them in the rigid stems of a species of dwarf Leptospermum, also 

 in Epacris, Isopogon, low Banksias and Eucalypti. Little preference is shown, however, and any 

 shrub is utilized as a nesting site, also low ferns, the shelter of a tuft of herbage, or the drooping 

 leaves of a Grass-tree. 



