2q8 Mann, The Singing Honey-eater {Ptilotis sonord). [ jg^"]^" ji 



ever, as I was upon a ladder near the house, my old friend alighted 

 on my hand and sought for sugar, as though it were but yesterday, 

 instead of five months ago, since she left. 



During that season she again reared two families, with almost 

 exactly similar proceeding as in the previous year, and in April, 

 1918, again disappeared. This time, when September came 

 round, I was on the look-out with much interest to see if she 

 would again return, and sure enough, on the 13th (the year before 

 it was the 14th), the pair arrived. Without hesitation they came 

 at once to my hand. By Christmas their first young were launched 

 upon the world, and as I now write (27th February) the second 

 pair of young are nearly old enough to be driven forth. The old 

 mother bird will now come in through the open window when I 

 call and perch quietly on my thumb while I open the cupboard 

 and dip a piece of bread in the honey for her — a delicacy she dearly 

 enjoys. 



It would be interesting to know whither these birds migrate 

 for the five months each year, and also what becomes of their 

 young, for they never return to my domain, and, though I have 

 occasionally seen a few members of the species elsewhere on this 

 Mornington Peninsula, they do not appear in this immediate 

 locality. 



As regards their vocal accomplishments, my experience differs 

 somewhat from that of Mr. Morse. The rather high-pitched, 

 musical little bar of several notes, from which I have assumed 

 they derived their name, is given frequently during the whole 

 time they are with me, and the " Preet, preet " only when they 

 call each other. When they want to wean off the first family 

 before their second adventure they use quite a different sound — 

 between a hiss and a snarl, long drawn out — from which the 

 young invariably flee. 



The Nesting of Lyre^Birds. 



By H. V. Edwards. 



It was remarked in The Emu for January that the Lyre-Bird, 

 as evidenced at times by its selection of nesting-sites, does not 

 exhibit any particular shyness. I also have found the nest of 

 this bird on a low stump within 20 yards of a main road, and in 

 full view of it. As regards the bird's general nesting habits, Mr. 

 Gregory Mathews remarked some time ago (in the Sydney Mail, 

 I think) that, since the increase of foxes, the Lyre-Bird had taken 

 to nesting on tall stumps, cliffs, and in other elevated positions. 

 Long before the introduction of this animal I have found Lyre- 

 Birds' nests about creeks on the outskirts of Tantawanglo 

 Mountain (between the Monaro and Bcga (N.S.W.) districts), and 

 at Mittagong, about 70 miles south of Sydney, ])uilt on cliff ledges 

 and stumps. The bird is naturally erratic in the choice of a site 



