THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 107 



partially or wholly stripped of the insects, while other twigs in 

 the same group were completely covered with them. On several 

 following occasions I saw the birds acting in the same way, 

 and, failing absolute proof, have no doubt in my own mind that 

 they were really destroying the disease. — A. E. Kitson. 13th 

 September, 1897. 



White-eared Honey-eater. — The following curious action 

 on the part of a bird seems worthy of being placed on record. 

 Early last month, when searching on horseback through some 

 thick scrub for nests, I noticed that I was being persistently 

 followed by a female White-eared Honey-eater, Ptilotis leucotis, 

 Lath., which I conjectured was looking for nesting material. I 

 therefore dismounted, tying my horse to a neighbouring sapling, 

 stood some 8 or 10 paces off, to watch the bird. She quickly 

 alighted on the animal's back behind the saddle, and commenced 

 to pull vigorously at the hair, shifting once or twice to escape the 

 switch of the tail. The male bird meanwhile alighted in a 

 neighbouring bush, and cheered her up with an occasional 

 " choke-up," " choke-up." Having plucked sufficient hair to 

 carry conveniently, she darted off, and disappeared in the 

 distance. Accordingly, moving on in the direction taken, I again 

 tied the horse to a tree, and had not long to wait for her return, 

 when she again filled her mouth with hair and flew off, this time, 

 however, but a short distance, as I was now close to the nest, 

 which I easily found in the scrub. On revisiting the nest four 

 days afterwards I found her sitting upon her two eggs, and one of 

 the Pallid Cuckoo. — J. E. Shepherd, Somerville, 9th October, 

 1897. 



Lizards. — The following letter by Mr. J. M. Whistler, Bor- 

 ganup, Western Australia, is taken from the Australasian of 23rd 

 October, 1897. He says : — "In a recent issue you gave a des- 

 cription of the ' Frilled Lizard,' and appear to regard it as the 

 only existing species which can run on its hind legs. There is a 

 lizard very common in the country about Roeburne, W.A., which 

 generally uses that mode of locomotion, and can travel for 20 

 yards quite as fast as a rabbit. I have seen a strong, active cat, 

 which lived chiefly on lizards, easily left behind by one which 

 wriggled out of its clutches. The average length of a full-grown 

 specimen is about 18 in. I have seen one or two which were 

 quite 2 ft. It has no frill, and seldom uses its forelegs except 

 when climbing trees. The colour is grey, and on each side of the 

 back is a narrow yellow stripe, commencing with a width of Jf in. 

 at the neck, and tapering away to the tip of the tail. The general 

 shape is the same as that of the Long-tailed Guana, and it has the 

 same trick when at rest of raising its fore-quarters and nodding its 

 head up and down. The head is 1^ in. long, the body about 



