INSESSORES. 91 



soms, presents a most beautiful appearance ; these blossoms 

 are so charged with saccharine matter, that the birds soon fill 

 themselves with lioney, even to their very throats : several of 

 those I shot, upon being held up by the feet, discharged from 

 their mouths a stream of this liquid to the amount of a 

 dessert-spoonful. Small flocks of from four to twenty in 

 number are also frequently to be seen passing over the town, 

 chasing each other, like the Swift of Europe, whence in all 

 probability has arisen its colonial name. Sometimes these 

 flights appear to be taken for the sake of exercise, or in the mere 

 playfulness of disposition, while at others the birds are passing 

 from one garden to another, or proceeding from the town to 

 the forests at the foot of Mount Wellington, or vice versa. 

 Their plumage so closely assimilates in colour to the leaves of 

 the trees they frequent, and they moreover creep so quietly 

 yet actively from branch to branch, clinging in every possible 

 position, that were it not for their movements and the 

 trembling of the leaves, it would be difficult to perceive them 

 without a minute examination of the tree upon which they 

 have alighted. I found them breeding about midway between 

 Hobart Town and Brown's River, but was not fortunate 

 enough to obtain their eggs, in consequence of their being 

 laid in holes of the loftiest and most inaccessible trees ; they 

 are said to be two in number, and perfectly white. 



The only part of New South Wales in which I have ob- 

 served this bird was the district of the Upper Hunter, through 

 which it periodically passes during the months of February 

 and March. 



In its actions and manners it is closely allied to the Tri- 

 clioglossi, but differs from them in some few particulars, w^iich 

 are more perceptible in captivity than in a state of nature ; 

 it has neither the musky smell nor the jumping motions of 

 the Tncltoglossi. I have never observed it to alight upon 

 the ground, or elsewhere than among the branches. 



The sexes are very similar in colom-, but the female may 



