554 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



honey, for obtaining which its delicately organized bill is 

 peculiarly adapted. Like its congeners, this species occa- 

 sionally frequents the low shrub-Uke trees, and sometimes is 

 even to be observed upon the ground in search of food. In 

 its actions it displays great activity, darting about from 

 branch to branch with a rapid zigzag motion ; its flight is 

 irregular and uneven, but it often rises perpendicularly in the 

 air, uttering at the same time a rather pretty song. 



The nest, which is constructed among the large-leaved 

 Banksias, is of a round compact form, and is composed of 

 dried fine grasses, tendrils of flowers, narrow threads of bark, 

 and fine wiry fibrous roots matted together with zamia wool, 

 forming a thick body, which is warmly lined with feathers 

 and zamia wool mingled together ; the external diameter of 

 the nest is three inches, and that of the cavity about one inch 

 and a quarter. The eggs are two in number, nine lines long 

 by six and a half broad; their ground-colour in some 

 instances is a delicate buff, in others a very delicate bluish 

 white, with a few specks of reddish brown distributed over 

 the surface, these specks being most numerous at the larger 

 end, where they frequently assume the form of a zone. The 

 breeding-season is in October. 



The sexes present little or no difference in external appear- 

 ance, but the female may generally be distinguished from the 

 male by her more diminutive size and the more slender 

 contour of her body. 



Crown of the head, all the upper surface, wings, and six 

 middle tail-feathers greyish brown, the remainder of the tail- 

 feathers black, largely tipped with white, and narrowly mar- 

 gined on their external edges with brown ; space between the 

 bill and eye, and the ear-coverts blackish brown ; stripe over 

 the eye, chin, and a broader stripe beneath the eye white ; back 

 part of the neck light chestnut-brown ; centre of the throat 

 rich chestnut, bounded below by a crescent of white, which is 

 succeeded by another of black; abdomen and under tail- 



