^°''ui^^'] Dove, Some Tasmania)! Birds' Nests. 235 



clear like a hammock. The Spinebill Honey-eater {Acanthorhynchns 

 diibiiis), however, will occasionally adopt a similar form. In a 

 scrub near Launceston (Tas.) the nest of a pair of these elegant 

 little Honey-eaters was swung by the edge from slender twigs of 

 tea-tree [Melaleuca), but there was also a small twig at the back 

 which gave some support, and another ran horizontally beneath. 



The two nests of the White-eye here briefly described were 

 found while I was Hving among the scrubs near Table Cape, North- 

 West Tasmania. [A.) Swung by the rim from a very frail fork 

 of the Melaleuca or Swamp Tea-tree, the supports being barely 

 one-si xteeath of an inch in thickness, so that the total weight of 

 nest, young, and parent must be very sHght. The opening of the 

 httle cup was almost elliptical in form, the measurement of the 

 egg cavity, 2h inches by i^- inches, 2 inches deep, swelUng out under 

 the rim like an inflated ladle, and with rounded bottom. The 

 material was \'ery fine shreds of stringybark from the eucalypt 

 of that name (/:. obligiui. L'Her.), with somewhat thicker strips 

 underneath, the rim being sewed to the twigs by threads of bark 

 fibre and spider-web ; a few spider-cocoons were stuck on the 

 outside of the nest, and the lining was of horsehair. The contents 

 were three eggs, of a dehcate blue tint. (B.) Bound to two very 

 slender Melaleuca twigs in the same way as (A), the ends of the 

 twigs swinging quite freely ; nest rounder at top and more open, 

 not so deep ; measured 2^ inches by 2 inches across top outside, 

 i-J inches inside ; formed of coarse, dry grass, lined with fine grass, 

 a little green moss worked in, and many white spider-cocoons 

 stuck on outside ; bound to twigs with grass-blades and spider- 

 web. A very loose structure, not nearly so neat as the bark 

 cradle ; but both were so frail that they could be seen through at 

 almost any part. Neither hacl the shghtest sign of any support 

 other than the very frail horizontal swinging twigs. 



A beautiful example of the pensile type of nest was found while 

 Mr. H. C. Thompson and myself were exploring the slopes of 

 Mount Arthur, in Noiih-East Tasmania. There, in the head 

 of a dogwood tree {Pomaderris apetala. Lab.), 30 feet from the 

 ground, was found the nest of a pair of Strong-billed Honey-eaters 

 (M. validirostvis), a species peculiar to Tasmania and its adjacent 

 islands. The nest was hanging from dogwood twigs, to which 

 it was bound by fine strips of stringybark. It was formed entirely 

 of the same bark, and lined with soft brown material from the 

 crown of the Dicksonia tree-fern, which grows in those forests. 

 The nest contained three beautiful eggs of a pinkish tint, spotted 

 with dark red, mostly at the larger end. The ground colour of 

 one egg was much browner than that of the others. Curiously 

 enough, a pair of the shade-loving Pink-breasted Robins [Erythro- 

 dryas rhodinogaster) had built in a fork of the same tree. 13 feet 

 from the ground, a very beautiful home of green moss, covered 

 on the outside with grey lichens. 



The other pensile nest-builder, called the Black-headed Honey- 

 eater, also peculiar to our island and adjacent islets, generally 



