200 



MELIPHAGID*. 



siir/ace greyish-white, passing into almost pure white on the abdomen and under tail-coverts ; the apical 

 portion of the feathers of the fore neck and breast submarginally bordered with dusky-grey; bill orange- 

 yellow; legs and feet yellow, darker in front; bare space behind and below the eye yellow : iris light 

 brown. Total length in the flesh JO inches, wing 5-9, tail 3, bill 0'7, tarsus I'o. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male, but smaller. Wing 5'5 inches. 

 Distribution— Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South AustraHa, Tasmania. 

 /"T^HE well-known Garrulous Honey-eater, Miner, or Soldier-bird is widely distributed over 

 -L a large portion of Eastern Australia, and is likewise found in Tasmania. It was 



described by Dr. Latham in i8oi, in his "Index Ornithologicus" as Mcrops garnihis, a name 

 founded on the " Chattering Bee-eater" of his Supplement to the " General Synopsis of Kirds."" 

 I would here point out that in the copy of Latham's work in the Australian Museum Library, 

 and formerly the property of the late Mr. William Swainson, whose name is stamped on the 

 calf binding of each volume, the date of publication on the title page of Supplement II. is 1802, 



yet Latham gives references, page, 

 and number, to many descriptions in 

 it, when he characterised each species 

 in his "Index Ornithologicus" and 

 which bears the date of publication 

 of the previous year iSoi. 



In a number of adult specimens 

 now before me, some of them pro- 

 cured in the breeding season, the 

 feathers of the back are more or less 

 distinctly margined with pale olive- 

 yellow, and in a less degree the basal 

 portion of the outer webs of the 

 central tail feathers. In the speci- 

 mens destitute of the olive-yellow 

 wash on these parts, the feathers are 

 worn and abraded, and the birds were apparently near the moult. The wing-measurement of an 

 adult male obtained by Mr. George Masters, in April 1867, at the Ouse River, Tasmania, is 5-9 

 inches, and of an adult male procured by him in August 1870, at Gayndah, on the Burnett River, 

 Queensland, 5-6 inches. Of adult males obtained in the Blue Mountains. New South Wales, 

 the wing-measurement varies from 5-7 to 5'9 inches. 



There is a beautiful albino of this species in the Australian ^Museum collection, presented 

 by Mr. F. Mack. 



Open forest and partially cleared lands are its favourite haunts. Except in the breeding 

 season it is usually met with in small flocks. When disturbed they generally congregate in the 

 dead branches at the top of a tree, uttering at the same time loud, shrill notes of alarm. The 

 warning cries of this species are only too well known to many who are in search of game, 

 for it will persistently follow one from tree to tree. This habit was known to the early settlers 

 in Australia, for over a century ago Latham in describing it under the name of " Chattering 

 Bee-eater"f remarks: — "This bird inhabits New South Wales, and is said to be a noisy 

 chattering species, insomuch as to give the alarm, in the manner of the Jay, so as to prevent the 

 sportsmen getting a shot at the Paticgorang." 



Although this species is common in the open forest lands about Blacktown, where it 

 breeds, I have only seen it during one season in the suburbs of Sydney. This was at Roseville, 



GARRDLOUS HONEY-EATEK. 



Gen. Syn. Bds., Suppl. II., p 154. 



t Loc. eil., p. 155. 



