92 



MELIPHAGID-E. 



O-enVLS ^^"STZOlvdlEX-i-A., Viffors and Hor^JIdd. 



Myzomela sanguinolenta. 



SAXGUINEOUS HONEY-EATER. 

 Certliia sanguinoleiUa, Lath. Ind. Oni., Suppl. p. xxxvii., (1801). 



Myzomela sanguinolenta, Gould, Bds. Aust. fol. Vol. IV., pi. 63 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., 

 Vol. I., p. .5.55 (1865) ; Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. IX., p. 131 (1884). 

 Adult male — Mantle, hack, rump, and upper tail-coverts black, their central feathers largely 

 tipped with rich scarlet, forming an irregular and broken marking down the middle of the upper parts: 

 ujjper wing-coverts black, the outer ivehs and tips of tlie greater series having narrow whitigh edges: 

 quills black, narrowly edged externally with dull olive-white ; tail feathers black ; lores black; head 

 and neck all round rich scarlet; remainder of the under surface dingy-grey ivitli a yellowish >cnsh, 

 which is more pronounced on the centre of the abdomen: tips of the feathers on the fore neck and chest 

 and many of them on the breast, scarlet, on the latter part the dull basal portion of the feathers are 

 visible, giving it a mottled appearance ; under tail-coverts dull white with pale greyish-brown centres; 

 hill black: legs and feet black with a slight olive tinge; iris black. Total length in the flesh 4--> inches, 

 wing 2-S, tail 1-5, hill 5, tarsus OS-'i. 



Adult female — Gfiwrid raluKr nhnrf hrmi-n sliijlttlii tiniinl ir'ifh iitirr^ thr nnnp(nid iipinr Itiil- 

 coverfs tnishrd iri/h nifyr,,,!-,,!',,-,^: ,rii,,js hnun, ,n, I siimhir/,/ umrkid ,is ni tlir iii,ih' ; lad -fathers 

 brmim, n-ilh rmj imrn.ir Injlitrr luar.jnis: h,rrs, f,r,hr.,d. ,:n./r„ ,f ihr lirad, iiapr ,ii,<l linid iirrhlike 

 the hfirk: ,■],;„, lln-nilt iniil r,,r-rnrrrts ,r], it y-h mini , thr tijis nf iiinsi ,f III, f.lthrrx slHihlhi diirkrr. the 

 hasr <flhr,,ir-,;,nrts ,n,dafr,r :<r„tt,rrd fathrrs „„ tlw rhu, ,n,d //yy-r llinuit dnil srar/rt : thr mider 

 sii rfiri' dull bniwii.ish-ichiff heaiiuiuij a rliarrr ichitr,,f, IJir rfiitrr,flhr(ilid,,ii,iii and under tnU-an-erts. 



Distribution — Queensland, New South Wales, \'ictoria. 

 Al^HE Sanguineous Honey-eater or " Blood-bird," as it is called throughout Eastern New 

 -L South Wales is widely distributed over the coastal districts of Eastern Australia. Mr. 

 Frank Hislop has found it breeding in the Bloomfield River District, North-eastern Queensland, 

 Messrs. E. J. Cairn and Robt. Grant obtained specimens while collecting on behalf of the 

 Trustees of the Australian Museum, near Cairns, as also did Mr. George Masters, farther south 

 at Gayndah on the Burnett River. It is usually common in most of the coastal districts of New 

 South Wales, and in some seasons it also occurs in Victoria. I have seen skins of stragglers 

 obtained in the latter State as far south and west as Lome. 



Nowhere is it more abundant in certain seasons of the year than the coastal districts around 

 Sydney. Although fairly regular in its appearance during early spring, it is distinctly nomadic 

 and erratic in habits during the winter months. Close to the coast, between Manly and Narrabeen 

 I have during many seasons usually noted it, and often obtained specimens in June and July, 

 while in the western suburbs of Sydney it does not generally appear until the latter end of August 

 or early in September. During a period of drought, what might be regarded as an irruption of 

 Blood-birds took place in the Sydney coastal districts in May and June 1902. At Middle 

 Harbour, Manly, Bondi, Randwick and Kurnell, they were in hundreds, and by far the greater 

 number being adult males. Mr. H. Newcombe, who presented eight specimens to the Australian 

 Museum, supplied the information, that at Cook's Landing Place, Botany Bay, on the 31st May, 

 some boys had about thirty birds that they had killed with stick and stones. Stragglers were also 

 obtained at Cootamundra and other parts of Eastern New South Wales, where previously it had 

 been unobserved. The early winter months of the following year it was unusually scarce, and 

 only a few pairs were observed between Manly and Kurnell. In May 1904 I saw two females 

 of this species in the Fig-trees of Hyde Park, Sydney. At Roseville it generally appears about 

 the middle of August or early in September, but in 1900 it was unusually late, the first bird, an 



