66 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



ant its presence. The crowns of the highest mountains, 

 as well as the lowlands, if clothed with Eucahjpli, are 

 erjually enlivened by it. Like all the other members of 

 the genus, it frequents the small leafy and flowering 

 brancliefi ; it dilfers, however, from its congeners iu 

 one remarkable character — that of alighting upon and 

 clinging to the surface of the boles of the trees in search 

 of insects. I never saw it run up and down the trunk, 

 but merely fly to such parts as instinct led it to select 

 as the probable abode of insects. 



"I am indebted to the Rev. Thomas J. Ewing, D.D., 

 for the nest and eggs of this bird, which I failed in pro- 

 curing during my stay in Tasmania. Like those of the 

 other members of tlie genus, the nest is round and cup- 

 shaped, suspended by the rim, and formed of coarse, 

 wiry grasses, with a few blossoms of grasses for a 

 lining ; the eggs are three in number, eleven lines long 

 by eight lines broad, and of a dull olive-buff, thickly 

 spotted and blotched with markings of purplish brown 

 and bluish grey, the latter appearing as if beneath the 

 surface of the shell. 



"The song consists of a couple of notes, and is not 

 remarkable for its melodv." — " Handbook Birds 

 Austral.," Vol. I., p. 565. 



According to Mr. CampMl, the breeding season is 

 from August to December. 



Mr. North describes the eggs as fleshy-buff, becoming 

 darker towards the larger end, where they are thickly 

 spotteo' with purplish-brown and superimpo.sed markings 

 of deep gi-eyi.sh-lilac. (Of. Cat. Nests and I'ggs, p. 225.) 



Dr. Buss says that this Honey-sucker has altogether 

 been only once imported alive, in the year 1880. when 

 it arrived at the Zoological Gardens of Amsterdam. 

 But may not Mr. Farrar's birds have teen young of 

 this species in their transitional stage towards the 

 adult colouring? Mr. Carrick says that he has imported 

 M. atrirajyillus. 



Wartt-f.\ced Honey-eater (Mrlij)hat]a phrt/tjia). 



Black ; scapulars broadly margined with pale yellow ; 

 lower back margined with yellowi.sh-white : upper tail- 

 coverts margined with pale yellow; wing-coverts mar- 

 gined with yellow; bastard wing yellow; primaries 

 with broadly yellow outer marrin, part of inner web 

 along the shaft yellow ; secondaries Avith broadly yel'ow- 

 margiiied outer w-eb : feathers of under surface with 

 subterininal arrow-shaped yellowish-white markings ; 

 central tail-feathers with small yellow tips, the re- 

 mainder increasingly yellow to the outermost ones ; bill 

 tlack ; feet blackish brown : irid<'s reddish-brown; the 

 face covered with dull yellowish-white warty eycrcs- 

 cences. Female siniilnr. but much smaller. Youni 

 without warty excrescences, the face partly clothed 

 with feathers. Hab., Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria, and South .Australia. 



Gould .savs of this species: — "Although it is very 

 generally distributed, its presence appears to he de- 

 pendent upon the state of the J^urah/pti. upon whfifie 

 blossoms it mainly denends for subsistence ; it is conse- 

 quently onlv to be found in anv particular localitv 

 during the season that those trees are in blossom. It 

 generally resorts to the loftiest and most fnllv-flowered 

 tree, where it frcquentlv reigns supreme, buffeting and 

 driving every other bird away from its immediate neisih- 

 bourhood ; it i.s, in fact, the most pugnacious bird T 

 ever saw. evincing particular hostility to the smaller 

 MrliphnqirJtr. and even to others of its own snecie« 

 that may venture to appinach the trees upon which two 

 or three have taken their station. While at Adelaide, 

 in South -Australia, T observed two pairs that had 

 possersed themselves of one of the bigh trees that had 

 been left standing in the middle of the city, which tree 



during the whole period of my stay they kept sole 

 possession of, sallying forth and beating off every bird 

 that came near. I met with it in great abundance 

 among the brushes of New South Wales, and also found 

 it breeding in the low apple-tree flats of the Upper 

 Hunter. I have occasionally seen flocks of from fifty 

 to a hundred iu number, passing from tree to tree as 

 if engagwl in a partial migration from one part of the 

 country to another, or in search of a more abundant 

 supply of food. 



"The nest, which is usually constructed on the over- 

 hanging branch of a eucalyptus, is round, cup-shaped, 

 about five inches in diameter, comjxjsed of fine graeses, 

 and lined with a little ^vool and hair. The eggs are 

 two in number, of a deep yellowish-buff, marked all 

 over with indistinct spots and irregular blotches of 

 chestnut-red and dull purplish-grey, particularly at the 

 larger end, where they frequently form a zone ; they 

 are eleven lines long by eight lines and a half broad. 



" The stomachs of the specimens I killed and dissected 

 on the Hunter were entirely filled with liquid honey ; 

 insects, however, doubtless form a considerable portion 

 of their diet." — " Handb. Birds Austral.," Vol. I., pp. 

 527-8. 



Campbell says (" Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds," 

 p. 382): — "The peculiar plaintive song, accompanied 

 with the bowing of the head, of the Warty-faced Honey- 

 eater is very agreeable." Tlie same author quotes from 

 Mr. Hermann Lau. that " the site of its big nest is at 

 about the height of twenty feet in a tree, and always 

 near a thick stem or a few sprouting shoots. It is 

 roughly made of coarse, dry grass, lined with rootlets 

 and animal hair. Deposits two or three eggs." It 

 breeds from the end of September to December. 



Buss says that hitherto this bird has only been once 

 imported, four examples having reached the London 

 Zoological Gardens in 1882. He therefore thinks it is 

 of little interest to aviculturists, but in this opinion I 

 think he is mistaken, because when a species has once 

 been imported there is always a likelihood that it may 

 be imported again, and I am not at all certain that the 

 instance which he mentions is the only one in which 

 it has reached the London market. 



White-eared Honey eater {Plilotis leucotis). 



Above yellowish-olive ; crown grey, with longitu- 

 dinal black streaks ; ear-feathers silvery white ; tail 

 tipped with yellowish-white; throat and breast black; 

 abdomen yellowish-olive ; bill black ; feet greenish lead- 

 grey ; irides greenish-grey. Female similar, but con- 

 siderably smallc. Hab., Australia, excepting in the 

 north. 



Gould says that this bird "is as much an inhabitant 

 of the mountainous as of the lowland parts of the 

 country, and is always engaged in creeping and cling- 

 ing about among the leafy br,anches of the Eucalypti, 

 particularly those of a low or stunted growth. 



"Its note is loud, and very much resembles that of 

 the Pliltitif peiiirillata. The stomach is small and mem- 

 branous, and the food consists of insects of various 

 kinds."— " Handb. Birds Austral.," Vol. I., p. 510. 



Mr. Campbell says:— "The bird is an early breeder. 

 T had always to be afield in the coastal scrubs about the 

 beginning of Sept-emWr if I wanted fresh eggs. The 

 nest is difficult to find amongst the arres of thick, short 

 scrub, and frequently is only detected by watching the 

 movements of the birds, which at all times are exceed- 

 ingly wily. My greatest find of White eared Honey- 

 eater.s' nests was in 1883, if I recollect rightly, when 

 I found three nests, all situated about a. foot from the 

 ground, and lined with a thick warm ply of cow-hairs 

 wonderfully woven. 



