2 



BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



equally singular forms especially adapted to find their existence 

 among her very remarkable flora and her equally remarkable 

 insects. Of these, her sixty species of Parrots, scarcely one 

 of which is found beyond her limits, are unrivalled for size 

 and beauty of plumage ; conspicuous also are the extensive 

 group of Honey-eaters forming the family Meliphac/idcs, the 

 elegant Maluri, the forest-loving Bower-birds, and the graceful 

 Menuras : all these, combined, furnish abundant illustration 

 of the remark with which I commenced. The absence of 

 such birds as Hornbills from Australia is evidently due to 

 the circumstance of her flora not comprising any of the 

 numerous large fruit-bearing trees which occm* in India 

 and Africa, and which are so essential to the existence 

 of these birds; in like manner she is destitute of Wood- 

 peckers, because the bark of her trees is not adapted for the 

 shelter of the insects upon wdiich they love to feed ; neither 

 do her few berry-bearing shrubs off'er attractions to the 

 Eurylaimi or the omnivorous Barbets and Trogons. No true 

 Wagtail {Motacilla) trips over her hard-baked soil in pursuit 

 of Aphides and other minute insects, as in Britain ; no 

 Saxicola enlivens with its sprightly actions her sterile 

 wastes ; and feebly indeed, among her birds, are represented 

 the melodious notes which are freely poured forth by many 

 of the species inhabiting countries north of the equator, and 

 which render the spring such a joyous period in England. 

 No Mavis has she to usher in the morning, and terminate the 

 summer day, with its vigorous note ; no Philomel to break 

 the stillness of night with its joyous song : quietude, as 

 regards the voice of birds, reigns supreme ; or if there be 

 any exception to this rule, it is the noisy screams of her 

 Parrots, the monotonous though liquid notes of some of her 

 Honey-eaters, the loud call of the Menura, or the warbling 

 of the Reed-birds. Some parts of the avifauna of Australia 

 are, however, very similar to that of other countries : Eagles, 

 Hawks, Harriers, and Owls play their accustomed parts ; 



