INSESSORES. 537 



of food, and in winter becomes excessively fat, the entire body 

 and neck, both internally and externally, being completely 

 enveloped. This bird feeds almost exclusively on honey and 

 the pollen of the Eucalypti : the only other food detected in 

 its very diminutive stomach being the remains of coleopterous 

 insects. Its whole structure is admirably adapted for pro- 

 curing this kind of food ; its long tongue, with its brush- 

 like tip, being protruded into the honey-cups of the newly 

 opened flowers, a succession of which appears with every 

 rising sun throughout the year, upon one or other of the nu- 

 merous species of the Eucalypti. 



The same restless disposition seems to be common to all 

 the tribe of Honey-eaters, and this bird is as active and quick 

 in its movements as the smallest of the genus, hanging and 

 clinging to the branches in every possible variety of position ; 

 and when thirty or forty are seen on a single tree, they pre- 

 sent a very animated appearance. Its flight, which seldom 

 extends farther than from tree to tree, is very similar to that 

 of the Magpie of Europe. Its note is a harsh and disagree- 

 able scream, resembling in loudness and somewhat in tone 

 the call of the Pheasant. Both sexes have the wattled ap- 

 pendages beneath the ear, but they are less developed in the 

 female, which moreover is smaller than the male. 



The nest is a moderately large cup-shaped structure, formed 

 of fine twigs and grasses intermingled with wool, and is 

 usually built on some low tree, such as the Casuarina or 

 Acacia. I failed in procuring the eggs, but my son Charles, 

 now engaged in a Geological Survey of Tasmania, having 

 transmitted some to me I am enabled to state that they are 

 of a pale salmon-colour sprinkled all over, but particularly 

 at the larger end, with small specks and blotches of yellowish 

 red and here and there with grey; they are one inch and 

 three-eighths long by seven-eighths broad. They are very like 

 those of A. carunculata, but arc more thickly blotched with 

 yellowish red. 



