Vol-Jl-] Stray Feathers 1 39 



chant for eggs or young birds. Except the Zosterops and the 

 Honey-eater Melithrepttis nielanocepJialus, I do not know of any 

 other species in our island whose nest can be called truly "pensile" 

 — that is, sewed by the rim to supports, otherwise swinging per- 

 fectly clear, like a hammock. The Spinebill {AcanthorJiyiicJius), 

 however, occasionally adopts a somewhat similar form. In 

 scrub near Launceston a home of this beautiful little Honey- 

 eater was swung by the edge from tea-tree twigs, but there was 

 also a small twig at back of nest which gave some support, and 

 another horizontally beneath the structure. In the case of 

 Zosterops building in scrub it prefers not the slightest support 

 from beneath, and two nests found by me while among tea-tree 

 at Table Cape may be cited : — («.) Was swung by the rim from 

 a very frail fork of Melaleuca or swamp tea-tree, the supports 

 being barely ^^ inch thick, so that total weight of the nest, young, 

 and parent must be extremely small ; the opening, almost 

 elliptical in form, measuring 2^/^ inches x i^ inches inside, 2 

 inches deep, swelling out under the rim like an inflated ladle, 

 and with rounded bottom. It was formed of very fine shreds of 

 stringybark eucalypt, with somewhat thicker strips underneath, 

 and the rim sewed to twigs by threads of bark-fibre and spider- 

 web ; three spider-cocoons were worked into the outside of nest, 

 and the lining was horsehair. The contents were three eggs, of 

 a delicate blue tint. (^.) Bound to two very slender Melaleuca 

 twigs in same way as {a), the ends of the twigs swinging quite 

 freely ; nest rounder at top and more open, not so deep ; 

 2y^ inches x 2 inches across top; inside, i^ inches ; formed of 

 coarse dry grass, lined with fine grass, a little green moss worked 

 in, and many white spider-cocoons stuck on the outside. Bound 

 to twigs with grass-blades and spider-web. It was a very loose 

 structure, not nearly so neat-looking as the bark cradle ; but 

 both were constructed so lightly that they can be seen through at 

 almost any part. Neither had the slightest sign of any support 

 other than the very frail horizontal swinging twigs. Many of our 

 birds, of course, suspend their habitations between upright stems, 

 but this differs considerably from the truly " pensile " habit of 

 swinging them by the rim only from slight horizontal twigs. 



As to the propensities of the White-eye for good or evil, 

 observers are as widely separated as the poles. At the New 

 South Wales Fruit-Growers' Conference, in 1890, James Norton, 

 M.L.C., condemned our sprightly little friend as " the greatest 

 pest which gardeners in this colony have to contend with ; he 

 seems to take a mischievous delight in sampling every fruit, 

 without regard to his own wants." A. G. Hamilton, Mt. 

 Kembla, said, at the same conference : — " Although these little 

 Honey-eaters are very destructive to grapes and stone-fruit, they 

 do an immense amount of good by clearing the trees of aphides 

 in winter and early spring. A flock of them will peep and pry 



