1616 THE PERCHING BIRDS 



THE HONEY EATERS 

 Family 



Distinguished from all the families hitherto noticed by their long extensile 

 tongue, adapted for extracting the honey upon which they subsist from the flowers 

 of gum trees and other trees of the Australasian forests, the honey eaters form a 

 large and interesting group. In all the beak is long and slender, with the upper 

 mandible curved, but there are no bristles at the rictus of the gape; the feet are gen- 

 erally large, and the wings of moderate length. The group is confined to Austra- 

 lasia and the islands of the South Pacific, and although comprising many genera, 

 our space allows of mention of only a few. 



The poe honey eater {Prosthemadera novtz-zealandits} , commonly 

 known as the parson bird, has the long, slender, and considerably- 

 curved beak broad at the base, while the tail is long and broad. The sole represent- 

 ative of its genus, this bird is found on both the main islands of New Zealand, 

 where it is one of the most abundant of the indigenous species. Sir Walter Buller 

 writes, that in a state of nature, the tui, or parson bird, is even more lively and 

 active than in captivity. " It is incessantly on the move, pausing only to utter its 

 joyous notes. The early morning is the period devoted to melody, and the tuis then 

 perform in concert, gladdening the woods with their wild ecstasy. . . . When 

 engaged in song the tui puffs out the feathers of his body, distends his throat, opens 

 wide his beak, with the tongue raised and slightly protruded, and gesticulates with 

 his head, as he pours forth the wild harmony of his soul. A pair may often be 

 observed scarcely a foot apart on the same branch performing in concert, for both 

 sexes sing. The notes are rich and varied, now resembling the striking together of 

 metallic rods, then a long-drawn sigh, a warble, and a sob, followed by a note of 

 great sweetness like the touch on the high stop of an organ. . . . One of its 

 finest notes is a clear silvery toll followed by a pause, and then another toll; the 

 performance lasting sometimes an hour or more. This is generally heard at the 

 close of the day, or just before the bird betakes itself to roost for the night. I have, 

 however, on one or two occasions heard a sweet tui toll long after the shadows of 

 darkness had settled down upon the forests, and all other sounds were hushed. At 

 other times it may be heard uttering a sweet warbling note, followed by a sneeze, 

 after that a pause, then a sharp cry of tu-whit, tu-whit, ooo, a pause again, and then 

 its warbling note with variations, very soft and liquid, but ending abruptly in a 

 sound like the breaking of glass." In confinement the parson bird readily repro- 

 duces the cries of other species. It feeds upon ripe berries, flies and other insects, 

 and the honey of certain wild blossoms; it builds its nest in the fork of a bushy 

 shrub, generally only a few feet from the ground; it is a large structure, composed 

 chiefly of sprays or dried twigs, intermixed with coarse moss, and lined with fine 

 grasses. The eggs are generally white, finely spotted with red or brown. The par- 

 son bird builds twice in the year, the first nest being found in August. The newly 

 hatched bird is almost entirely bare, but the feathers soon appear, and the growth 



