YELLOW ROBIN, HONEYEATERS AND OTHERS 



was in preparation. It was taken with the old camera and 

 is reproduced on page 51. The "Greenie," to use the bird's 

 popular name, is fairly well known even in our parks and 

 gardens, and about suburban houses. As the name indi- 

 cates, its general colour is a greenish brown, and its dis- 

 tinctive marking consists of a few white feathers at the ear. 

 The White-naped is a smaller bird, with a greenish brown 

 body, a very dark brown head, and a crescent of white 

 across the back of the neck. A patch of bare blue skin 

 above each eye also assists in its identification. It builds 

 a dainty nest, often high in the smallest branches of a gum 

 sapling, or in a similar position in the creek-side tea-tree. 

 We have not so far found it building in a position which 

 lent itself to photography. Once, long ago, we discovered 

 a nest from which the sitting bird refused to be disturbed 

 even when the slender branches were drawn so far from 

 the perpendicular that the thin frail home stood almost on 

 edge and the position of the bird was upright. What 

 the nest contained we know not, and probably could have 

 ascertained only by using force. 



Our experience of the Honeyeater family has recently 

 been enriched by acquaintance with an uncommon and re- 

 markable species. For this opportunity we are indebted 

 to Mr. Chandler, a sincere Nature-lover and an expert 

 photographer, at whose invitation we visited the home of a 

 colony of Bell Miners. Like most other Honeyeaters, this 

 bird is an inhabitant of the streamside scrubs, but unlike 

 others associates in colonies, and nests are built close to- 

 gether. The remarkable tinkling notes resemble the ring 

 of miniature anvils, and are difficult to trace to their 

 sources. Unfortunately for our ambitions to photograph 

 this species, some vandal located and robbed every nest. 

 The general appearance of the bird is an olive green, while 

 a bright yellow mark appears around each eye. 



The Dandenong Creek, at Wheeler's Hill, near Oak- 

 leigh is, considering its accessibility, a fine ground for ob- 

 servation. We spent the whole of one day some few years 

 back in an attempt to photograph the White-eared Honey- 

 eater which nests there freely. This Honeyeater is a fine- 

 looking energetic bird, with a bright brown-green plumage 

 and a black head. There is a large patch of white over 

 either ear, and this accounts for the name mentioned. The 

 presence of this patch led us into a serious disappointment 



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