4i 



corner in search of insects. When disturbed they chatter in a 

 most indiscrimiQate manner, hence the name of "babbler." 



— Honej^eaters. — 



One of the most typical families of Australian birds are our 

 honeyeaters, and this species are legion. Of course, as may be 

 supposed, Eyre's Peninsular is not overflowing with either milk 

 or honey; still the flora of that country, combined with the insect 

 life, is sufficient to support many species of this large family of 

 l)irds. Many of them are beautifully coloured and their song is 

 most pleasing to the ear. One of the most plentiful birds, not 

 only on the peninsular, but in many parts of Southern Australia, 

 is the yellow-winged honey eater (Melio-rnis Nova Hollandiae). It 

 shows a more decided preference for shrubs than for larger timber, 

 and where the bottlebrush or banksia abound so will these birds 

 congregate, and on being disturbed will keep up an incessant sharp 

 squeaking. Their strikingly contrasted colouring and markings 

 makes them not the least attractive of our Australian avifauna. 

 When darting on swift wing from bush to bush the bright yellow 

 markings of the wing are very conspicuous, and it is often called 

 tlie "Yellow Wing" by the settlers. During my visit to Port 

 Lincoln a month prior to the camp-out I observed these birds in 

 tliousauds among the stunted tucalypts at the back of the town. 

 The gums were then in flower, and hundreds of young birds, 

 fully fledged and attended by their parents, were to be seen 

 everywhere, keeping up an incessant squeaking — the young to the 

 parents and the parents uttering notes of alarm to their young. 

 The singing honeyeater (Ptilotis sonora) was not observed in the 

 vicinity of the camp, but 1 believe it was identified by the party 

 who visited Coflln's Bay amid the low bush on the sand dunes 

 (a favourite locality for this species). This bird is sombre in 

 pkimagt, but it makes up for the want of colouring with its full, 

 sweet note, Avhich is most pleasing to the ear of the traveller in 

 the solitude of the low scrubs on our coastlines. The wattle- 

 cheeked honeyeater (P.-cratitia), was seen by me but once on my 

 former visit, so little or no observations were obtainable. It is 

 named from two fleshy pendants of a plum colour, which hang on 

 either side of the cheek, and give the bird a most striking appear- 

 ance. The yellow plumed honeyeater (P. ornata) were fairly 

 numerous, but not nearly so as they were a month earlier, when 

 I visited the same locality. They showed a preference for the 

 bigger timber, where they were to be seen flitting about the 

 blossoms and foliage in a quick but graceful manner, descending 

 sometimes in a quick circular motion (like a piece of revolving 

 paper falling from a height) in pursuit of some insect which was 

 falling to the ground to escape capture. Among this family of 



