I A Brent, T//c Black-h ended Honey-eater. [,st''july 



scattered spots of a darker colour, of which a few are con- 

 densed into a ring near the crown. From the time they are 

 laid till they are hatched is about i6 days, and certainly less than 

 three weeks. The young birds of the first brood can be seen flying 

 during Christmas week. In ordinary seasons there are at least 

 three broods in a year. 



A pair noted this season building, both set to work with a will, 

 the male bird calhng out and flying from one nest to the other in a 

 highly-excited state, but at intervals would fly away with the 

 female, and return with material, flying direct to his selected spot, 

 and making a great fuss the while ; but the female kept building 

 on, and treated him with contempt. I stayed for quite two hours, 

 and by that time both nests were quite visible from the ground. 

 On passing that way next day I saw, to my surprise, that the nest 

 of the male was completely gone. He had evidently failed to 

 convince his better half that his choice was the better one, so, like 

 a dutiful husband, had given in, and added the material of his nest 

 to hers. His nest, however, would have been the better, as it was 

 quite inaccessible, whilst hers was low down and easy to get at. 



After the eggs are laid the female seldom leaves the nest, in 

 windy weather never ; if she did the eggs might be thrown out, 

 as the nests are then nearly upside down. So, if it be necessary to 

 chop the tree down to get at the nest, a windy day should be 

 selected, as the bird, even when the tree is falling, will stick to her 

 eggs, provided the tree falls clear of others. The male is most 

 attentive to his mate in bringing food, which, at the nesting season 

 of the y.ear, consists mostly of honey and manna.* The young are 

 also fed on the same food by both birds. The male, when his mate 

 is sitting, is never more than a few minutes away from her, and by 

 constantly watching him at this time the nest is easily found. In 

 fine weather, when the female wants to leave the nest, she gives a 

 peculiar call, and the male at once takes her place. 



This species of Honey-eater is much favoured b}' the Pallid 

 Cuckoo for foster-parents for its young. When placing its egg in 

 one of their nests it very rarely fails to throw out one of the other 

 eggs, or to do away with it in some way or other (how is not yet 

 known), and its own egg takes its place in the nest. 



On several occasions this Cuckoo has been so anxious to deposit 

 its eggs in Black-headed Honey-eaters' nests that it did not wait 

 till the structure was completed. Hence the egg was built in with 

 the material, and could never have been hatched. 



The 3'oung Cuckoo has the best of it. He grows much faster, 

 and takes most of the food, for he will eat twice as much as the 

 rest of the family put together, so he keeps his foster-parents 

 employed all the time. As soon as able, he works his shoulder 

 under the other occupants of the nest, and throws them out,j 

 after which he lives in comfort, and grows rapidly, and the nest, 



* Manna is a form of sugary sulxstance secreted by an homopterous insect, probably 

 a species of scale, which lives upon the leaves of Eucalyptus viininalis. — Eds. 

 t Does Mr. Brent state this of his own knowledge, or is it an hypothesis ? — Eds. 



