32 Gilbert, The Black-throated Honey-eater. [isf"iuiy 



when I was attracted by a pair of these birds hovering over, then 

 darting down upon, the back of a calf, and picking and tugging 

 at its hair, then up into the air again, and so on. They were not 

 long in getting their bills full, and, when they had done so, dis- 

 appeared with celerity among the trees. The whole operation 

 was over before I realized that they were nidulating. I remained 

 in the position in which I first saw them, and after waiting five 

 minutes or so was relieved by hearing their call-notes issuing 

 from among the trees. They were coming back for another load 

 of material, with which the calf, wilHngly or unwilhngly — but albeit 

 gratuitously — supplied them, and I thus detected the direction 

 from whence they came. They perched in a tree just above the 

 calf and immediately commenced preening their feathers, then 

 stretching and relaxing their wings, and legs. While they were 

 thus engaged I moved in the direction I saw them come from. 

 Presently one " cheeped " and the other instantly flew out, 

 hovered over the calf, and then, with a sudden dive and without 

 alighting, once again gathered a bill of hair. A few chirrups, 

 and away it flew, being joined " on the wing " by its mate as it 

 did so. They both flew over my head and on in a straight line 

 for about three hundred paces, and with a sudden rise disappeared 

 into a tree. I arrived just in time to see them depart from a 

 leafy cluster of a box-tree 25 feet up. This time they flew at 

 right angles to the course they took to reach the calf — one to a 

 stringybark-tree, the other to the ground. In a short time 

 both returned with material, the first to go in evidently being 

 the female, with flakes and shreds of bark. I could distinctly 

 see the leaves quiver as she industriously worked the bark into 

 its position. The other bird, which I took to be the male, 

 in the meantime had perched about a foot from his working 

 partner, slowly moved towards his mate, whereupon she 

 came out, took the material from him, and returned with it to 

 her nest to further its completion. WhilQ she was thus engaged 

 in constructing the nest, he occupied his time by chasing away 

 sundry small birds that ventured round. I ascertained that the 

 material picked up from the ground was loose hair rubbed off 

 stock that had been lying down, which demonstrates the keenness 

 of vision in these engaging little birds, and their aptitude in 

 fossicking out the sources of supplies for ncst-])uilding. A fort- 

 night later I examined the nest and it contained three eggs and 

 one of the Pallid Cuckoo {Ciiciiliis pallidus, Lath.) The lining 

 was an extra lot of wool, and the eggs were nearly buried out of 

 sight in it, and were quite greasy. 



I shall here give data of the few nests and young that have 

 come to my notice : — 



Wyong, 8/11/09 (coastal, 63 miles nortli of Sydney). — Three in- 

 cubated eggs. 

 Ravensworth, 9/11/13 (61 miles inland from Newcastle). — Two eggs. 

 Blacktown, 26/10/13 (west of Sydney, 21 miles). — Young Pallid 

 Cuckoo in nest. 



