MELIPHAGA. 



155 



is also a long crescentic patch on t/ieir inner ivebs, and separated only by l/ie black shafts : central 

 tail feat/iers black narrowly edged with yellow at t/ie tips, tlie remainder yellow, black at the base, llie 

 black increasing in extent towards the central pair ; head, hind iieck, upper portion of inantle, throat 

 and fore neck black; remainder of the under surface black, with a broad sublerminal arrow-shaped 

 yellowish-white marking on each feather; centre of the lower portion of the abdomen, the vent and 

 under tail coverts yellowish-white; bill black; legs aiid feet fleshy-brown, dark slaty brown in front ; 

 bare space and warty excrescences around the eye dull yellowish-ivhite ; iris reddish-brown. Total 

 length in the flush .V'.'J inches, wing 4'^, tail 4, bill 0'7, tarsus irSo. 



Adult female — Similar in plumfuje to the male but sliijlitly .■onalh-r. 



Distribiition — Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South AusttaHa. 



/"I^HE Warty-faced Honey-eater is one of the 

 -1- most beautiful birds inhabiting Australia; 

 Shaw figuring it in his "General Zoology" in iSii 

 as the "Embroidered Bee-eater," from the conspicu- 

 ous yellow margins to most of the feathers of the 

 upper surface. Its range extends from Southern 

 Queensland, throughout the greater portion of Xew 

 South \Vales and \'ictoria, into South Australia, 

 where it is comparatively rare. Among a number of 

 specimens now before me are two received on loan 

 from the latter State, one from the Trustees of the 

 South Australian Museum, obtained at Square 

 Waterhole, Mount Lofty; the other procured by 

 Mr. Edwin Ashby at Tea-tree Gully on the 27th 

 June, I goo. 



From its richly contrasted yellow and black 

 plumage it is almost universally known in New 

 South Wales as the "Mock Regent-bird." It is not 

 stationary, but a nomadic species, roaming about 

 the country sometimes in large flocks from fifty to a hundred individuals; at other times a few 

 isolated pairs may be found in a district where once they were numerous, or they may be entirely 

 absent for years. The first time I observed this species was in my early collecting days, 

 when a flock numbering about one hundred, and flying high, arrived one morning from a 

 southerly direction, and settled on the topmost dead branches of some tall Eucalypti growing in 

 Albert Park, and close to the St. Kilda Railway Station. Apparently they had travelled some 

 distance for they rested a time before dispersing over the Park, and where they eventually 

 remained to breed. This was the only occasion that I obtained their nests and eggs in this locality. 



Although absent some seasons I have noted this species in the neighbourhood of Sydney, 

 at Ashfield, Canterbury, and Belmore, usually in small flocks in April and May, and in isolated 

 pairs during August and September, when they were breeding. On arrival it is, however, more 

 plentiful in the autumn months in the coastal districts between Narrabeen and Newport, and at 

 Port Hacking. Open forest lands studded with Eucalypti when in flower are its favourite haunts. 

 It occurs also in the Blue Mountains and in timbered flats beyond the range to the neighbourhood 

 of Dubbo, but I have not seen it in the dry western portions of the State. In August 18S7, Dr. 

 E. P. Ramsay and I found it very common at Wellington and Dubbo, and we secured a number 

 of specimens. In the same month ten years later, I noted it very common at Canterbury and 

 Belmore, near Sydney. It is most combative in habits, fiercely attacking any other species that 

 may intrude on its domain, and especially during the breeding season. 



WARTY-FACKD HONEY-EATER. 



