^°'-j'j^'] Whitlock, On the East Murchison. 200 



egg was infertile, and offensive when blown, though the other two 

 were quite fresh. 



The call note of this species is rather shrill and somewhat stridulant. 



Alfred Honey-eater {Lacustroica whitei, North). — This little bird 

 has only recently been described as new by Mr. A. J. North, from a 

 series of skins I secured near Wiluna and Milly Pool. It is sufficiently 

 distinct to require a new genus for its reception. It is described as 

 belonging to the Honey-eaters. If this is the case, then as a field 

 naturalist I should place it next to Zostevops, to which it has a 

 superficial resemblance, and also some similarity in general behaviour 

 and in its notes. In possessing a dark bar near the tip of the tail, and 

 in certain other features, it shows a divergence. (See coloured plate.) 



At Lake Austin, in 1903, I shot a pair of small birds I could not 

 identify. Speaking from memory, I think they were identical with the 

 present species. They were sent down to the Perth Museum with 

 other skins, but I never learned to what species they had been referred. 



This little Honey-eater is confined to tracts of country where large 

 mulga and other tree-like bushes are growing. It does not seem to 

 favour eucalypts, but I have seen it amongst flowering acacias. It is 

 a very difficult bird to pick out from a party of Acmithizce, busy, like 

 itself, in searching the foliage for insect prey. It looks slightly larger 

 than the three local species of Tits, but in its attitudes and its 

 perpetual motion there is absolutely nothing to distinguish it from 

 these commoner birds. The notes are altogether the best guide. 

 They are rather difficult to describe on paper. They may, perhaps, 

 be described as a succession of five or six monotones, high pitched 

 but musical, and uttered in a rapid, sibilant manner. Each bar is 

 repeated several times, to be followed by an interval before the next 

 cadence is commenced. Certain other notes resemble those of Anihus 

 australis when engaged in a love-fiight, but the volume of sound 

 produced is much less and the tone shriller. Others, again, resemble 

 those of the Carter Desert-Bird, which in their turn somewhat resemble 

 the before-mentioned notes of Anihus. In the generally high-pitched 

 voice, and to a lesser degree the manner of utterance, I was reminded 

 of the notes of Zostevops lutea and Z. e,ouldi. 



After shooting a male soon after my arrival in Wiluna, I came 

 across a pair on 23rd July, which I resolved to watch. They were 

 within easy distance of the main street of Wiluna, and my chances of 

 securing nest and eggs were not enhanced thereby. Further observa- 

 tions showed them to be busy at the extremity of a horizontal branch 

 of a narrow-leaved mulga or kindred tree. Both birds were at work, 

 and I waited till both were away before making a closer examination. 

 A nest was evidentl}^ just being commenced, as I could plainly see 

 spiders' webs had been attached to the branch of the tree where the 

 birds had been working. Progress was very slow, and I shortly left 

 Wiluna for Bore Well, not returning until the 15th August. On 

 returning from the latter locality I called en route at several nests I 

 was watching, only to find them pulled out by the blacks. It was 

 with some trepidation I visited my " Gerygone " nest, as I then called 

 it. Tracks of blacks' feet were only too plentiful, and I hardly 

 expected to find the nest safe. Judge of my delight when I could see the 

 frail little structure quite intact, and with the tail of the sitting 

 bird projecting over the side. I could just reach the branch. Cau- 

 tiously bending it down, I peeped in. There were two remarkably large 

 eggs for so small a bird, with the glow of the yolks shining through 



