NESTS AND EGGS OF HONEY-EATERS. 639 
Snowball took a pair of eggs the first week of May (? April), 1896, 
at Drouin, and shot the parent bird for his collection. The same 
season, in another part of Gippsland, a correspondent of Mr, C. 
French, jun., noticed young birds at the end of June. 
On the other hand, Mr. Geo. H. Morton, who was enjoying his 
summer vacation at Gippsland Lakes, reported he had found a 
nest of the Bell-bird containing eggs, New Year’s Day, 1889. 
Therefore, between these two extremes may be taken the breeding 
season of the Bell-bird. 
MANORHINA GARRULA, Latham. 
“ Minah.” 
Figure.—Gould, Bds. of Australia, fol., vol. iv, pl. 76. 
Reference.—Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., vol. ix, p. 260. 
Previous descriptions of Eggs.—Gould, Bds. of Austr. (1848), 
also Hdbk., vol. i, p. 575 (1865). North, Cat. Nests and Eggs, 
Austn. Mus., p. 229 (1889). 
Geographical Distribution.—South Queensland, N. S. Wales, 
Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. 
WNVest.—Cup-shaped ; constructed of fine twigs and grasses or 
dead flowering-stalks of plants (herbs), or sometimes chiefly root- 
lets, occasionally ornamented with spiders’ cocoons ; inside lined 
with a ply of very fine grass, bark, or white cottony substances, 
sometimes hair, wool, &c., are added; usually situated amongst 
the thin forked branchlets of a low tree, sapling, or bush. Dimen- 
sions over all, 6-7 inches by 4 inches deep ;. egg cavity, 34 inches 
across by 24 inches deep. 
Eggs.—Clutch, 3-4 ; oval, compressed towards one end ; texture 
fine ; surface slightly glossy ; colour, warm white, mottled and 
spotted all over, more thickly on the apex, with rich reddish-chest- 
nut and purplish-grey. Dimensions in inches of a pair taken in 
Tasmania: (1) 1:1 x ‘79; (2) 1:1 x-78. Of a fine clutch from 
the mainland: (1) 1:04 x ‘78; (2) 1:04 x ‘76; (3) 1:03 x ‘78; 
(2) O02 77. 
Observations.—The familiar Minah, or, as it is called in some 
parts, the Soldier-bird, is one of the most common of our Honey- 
eaters. Wherever you meet the birds, whether near the coastal 
scrub, in belts of timber along a river, on a plain, or in the 
Mallee, by their scolding voices they at once make their presence 
known, and yours too, should you happen to be stalking upon 
rarer game. However common and annoying the birds may be, the 
shapely-built nest and reddish-coloured eggs are both very beautiful. 
Two eggs I took from a nest near that grand natural sight— 
Corra Linn, Tasmania—were slightly larger than those generally 
taken in Victoria. This agrees with Gould’s observations that 
the Minah in Tasmania is a more robust bird and larger in every 
respect than the same species found on the mainland. 
