HONE Y-CREEPERS. 



85 



nectar, as well as the small insects found in them. They exhibit 

 great activity, and are continually moving from flower to flower 

 and from branch to branch in search of their subsistence. Occa- 

 sionally they may be seen perched on a dead bough, and uttering 

 a weak, plaintive note. Their nest is composed of grasses, wherein 

 the female deposits two eggs. 

 The type of this sub-family — 



Fig. 42.— The Sanguineous Hone\'-Creeper {Myzo/uela chsrmesinia). 



The Sangmneous Honey-Creeper {Myzomcla chermcsiuia), is a beau- 

 tiful little bird, an inhabitant of the thick "brushes" of New South Wales, 

 particularly those near the coast and those clothing the hilly portions of the 

 interior. It is rarely, if ever, found among the trees in the open part of the 

 country ; and there is reason to believe that the south-eastern side of the 

 continent is its natural and restricted habitat. It gives a decided preference 

 to those parts of the forest that abound with flowering plants, whose fragrant 

 blossoms attract large numbers of insects of various kinds, upon which, and 

 the pollen of the flower-cups, it chiefly subsists. Other species of honey- 

 creepers {EntomopJiila) principally frequent extensive plains and swampy lo- 

 calities, where they are usually seen perched on trees, now and then darting 

 forth after passing insects, and then generally returning to the spot they have 

 just left. While on the wing, they often spread out their tail, and occasionally 

 chase each other above the tops of the highest trees, uttering a loud melodious 

 note, that is sometimes changed to a chattering noise. Their nest is pendu- 

 lous from the tip of a branch partly hidden by the leaves, and formed of fine 

 fibrous roots, with the entrance at the top. The members of a third group 



