592 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 
Club of Victoria, 1887. It may possibly be found on the Furneaux 
Group, although we did not notice it there during a subsequent 
trip, being engaged chiefly amongst the sea-birds. 
During my Tasmanian excursion (1883) I was much delighted 
at the lively prying actions while searching for food of both the 
Strong-billed and Black-headed Honey-eaters ; the latter also 
possesses quite a cheerful little song. I endeavoured persistently 
to discover their nests, but only found fully-fledged young of the 
Strong-bill, which species had evidently commenced breeding about 
the end of ‘August or the beginning of September. 
Much interest was attached to aike Black-headed Honey ener, 
because its nest remained so long undiscovered, and the finding 
of the nest completed those of the Honey-eaters of Tasmania. 
At the meeting of the Royal Society of Tasmania (November, 
1884), Mr. E. D. Swan drew attention to the extremely rare nest 
and eggs, in fact, the first ever taken, of the Black-cap (¥V. 
melanocephalus), which had been found during that month at 
Austin’s Ferry, Bridgewater, and presented to the Museum by 
Miss A. Brent, Rosemeath. 
It is always a pleasure for me to write up an account of the first 
find of any nest and eggs new to scientific knowledge. It is more 
so in this instance, because the finders were lady field naturalists. 
Here is the authenticated story of the discovery by the Misses 
Brent of the nest of the Black-capped Honey-eater, as told by 
their brother (Mr. A. E. Brent) :— 
“The first intimation I received of a nest of our interesting 
little Black-capped Honey-eater was from my two youngest sisters. 
One day they chanced to witness one of these birds picking wool 
from a sheep and flying with it to the top of a small-leafed gum 
sapling. From the first they could see that it would be impossible 
to reach the spot, therefore they decided to remain watching for 
sometime. Then armed with a pair of field-glasses they watched 
the progress of the nest from day to day until they made certain 
that the bird had commenced sitting. Armed again (but this 
time with an axe) my sisters set forth to fell the tree—trusting 
to chance, as they said afterwards, that the nest and perhaps the 
contents might be saved in the fall. 
‘The tree fell midst briars and scrub, and after much scramb- 
ling and searching they at last discovered the nest with the poor 
little bird clinging fast to it although the nest was almost upside 
down. Seeing this they rushed forward, and in so doing scared 
the bird away, but owing to the thick mass of leaves, &e., 
crushed under the nest, the eggs were saved from being broken. 
Full of excitement the girls related the story to me, and after 
this a diligent search was made for more with the result that 
several nests were taken during that season (1884).” 
