168 



AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 



F. 142. NECTARINIIDAE (1), SUN-BIRDS, 234 sp — 



36(33)A., 77i74)0., 2(1)P., 123(122)E. 

 F. 143. Promeropidae, Promerops, 2 sp. E. (S. Afr.). 

 F. 144. MELIPHAGIDAE (88), HONEY-EATERS, Honey- 

 Suckers (-Birds), 251 sp.— 250 (250) A., 1(1)0. 

 11 342*White-naped Honey-eater (Lunulated), Blackcap, 

 11 Melithreptus atricapillus, S.Q., N.S.W., V., S.A., Kent 



Group. Stat. 'v.c. timber 5.5 



Upper yellowish-olive; quills brown; head, hind-neck 

 black; narrow white band on nape; under white; naked 

 patch about eye orange-scarlet; f., sim.; young no black 

 cap. Tame. Honey, pollen, insects. Peevish, half- 

 whistling note. 



is the Honey-eaters. Flowering eucalypts and other myrtaceous 

 plaDts, with their honey-bearing flowers and usually inedible 

 fruits, are the characteristic Australian trees; so are these birds, 

 depending so largely on the honey of these brilliant flowers and 

 the insects which visit them, the characteristic Australian birds. 

 The Honey-eaters form a very large family, and are found 

 throughout the Australian region as far as New Zealand and 

 away to the Sandwich Islands, which, zoologically, belong to Aus- 

 tralia. Strange it is that only one species should have spread to 

 the west across Wallace's line to the island of Bali. These birds 

 are provided with a brush tongue, which is used in brushing up 

 honey from the flowers. They have usually a long, slender, curved 



