494 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



It is one of the few species wliich enliven with their pre- 

 sence the ahnost impenetrable forests that cover a great por- 

 tion of Tasmania, giving preference to such parts as are 

 clothed with a thick brush of dwarf shrubby trees growing 

 beneath the more lofty gums. It also resorts to the thick 

 beds of the Epacris impressa, whose red and white heath-like 

 flowers bespangle the sides of the more open hills ; the 

 blossoms of this beautiful plant afford it an abundant supply 

 of food, which it seeks so intently as to admit of a sufficiently 

 close approach to enable one to observe its actions without 

 disturbing it ; while thus occupied it may be seen clinging to 

 the stems in every possible attirude, and inserting its slender 

 brush-like tongue up the tube of every floret with amazing 

 rapidity. Independently of honey it feeds on insects of 

 various kinds, particularly those of the orders Biptera and 

 llymenopiera. When disturbed it flits off with a quick dart- 

 ing flight, settling again at the distance of a few yards among 

 the thickest tufts of the Epacris, or shrouds itself from obser- 

 tion among the foliage of the sapling gums. It breeds in 

 September and the four following months. 



The nest, which is always placed on a low shrub, is of a 

 round, open form, outwardly constructed of the inner rind of 

 the stringy bark gum-tree, and generally lined with fine 

 grasses. 



The male has a black stripe passing from the base of the 

 bill through the eye, and a lunar-shaped mark down each side 

 the breast, nearly meeting in the centre, black ; a narrow stripe 

 above the eye and one behind the lunar marks on the breast 

 white ; all the upper surface dusky black ; wings blackish 

 brown, the primaries and secondaries margined externally, 

 particularly at their base, with golden yellow ; tail-feathers 

 brownish black, fringed with golden yellow at the base, the 

 two lateral feathers having a long oval spot of white on their 

 inner webs at the tip ; throat and chest white, with a streak 

 of brown down the middle of each feather; centre of the 



