NESTS AND EGGS OF HONEY-EATERS. 645 
Ararat, Victoria, I have seen these birds numerous. It was in 
the gullies running into the foot-hills of the Pyrenees that I secured 
the examples of eggs in my collection. 
Gould mentions that two of the Brush Wattle-bird’s nests and 
eggs, forming part of his great collection, were taken from the 
shrubs growing near the Botanical Gardens, Sydney, where these 
birds in those days were plentiful. 
Breeding months, August or September to December, 
ACANTHOCHERA LUNULATA, Gould. 
“ Little Wattle-bird.” 
Figure.—Gould, Bds. of Australia, fol., vol. iv, pl. 57. 
Reference.—Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., vol. ix, p. 265. 
Previous Descriptions of Hggs.—Gould, Bds. of Austr. (1848) , 
also Hdbk., vol. i, p. 544 (1865). 
Geographical Distribution.—West Australia. 
Nest.—Slightly concave, and lightly constructed ; composed of 
very fine twigs ; centre lined with shreds of soft reddish-coloured 
bark, portions of grass, and one or two spiders’ greenish-coloured 
cocoons. Dimensions over all—about 4 inches by 1% inches in 
thickest part. 
Eggs. — Clutch, 1 usually ; long, oval, slightly compressed 
towards one end; texture, fine ; surface, slightly glossy ; colour, 
rich or dark pinkish-buff or salmon-tint, marked and spotted more 
numerously around the apex with rich reddish-brown and dull 
purplish-grey. Dimensions in inches of single examples—(1) 
Paria 38 7 (2) P17 x “79. 
Observations.—My first field-outing in Western Australia was 
to Middleton Harbour, part of King George’s Sound. The locality 
was simply a repetition of some parts of the shores of Port Phillip 
—slightly undulating sandy ridges sustaining Banksias, Acacias, 
&c., between the beach, and Ti-tree (Melaleuca) swamps at the back 
—hbut the species of the vegetation was changed, likewise some of 
the birds, amongst which was the Lunulated Wattle-bird. It was 
the last day of September, 1889, and I found three nests in different 
stages—one building, one containing a beautiful egg, and the third 
occupied with a young one. All the nests were situated in thick, 
silky, or velvet bushes (Adenanthos). The week following, in the 
same locality, I took another nest with a fresh egg. Then on the 
west coast, towards the end of November, I obtained two more 
nests, each containing a single egg—one in the Karridale forest 
and the other at Coogee, near Fremantle. Incubation had com- 
menced in both these instances. 
The singular circumstances mentioned by Gilbert that the 
Lunulated Wattle-bird laid but one egg was proved in the five 
-nests I found. 
