THE GIFTS OF AUGUST 27 



lake, I was delighted to chance on a nest of a 

 Fuscous Honeyeater daintily suspended in an acacia 

 in full bloom. It was a pretty picture ; fancy might 

 have played with the little bird as the spirit of the 

 wattle-tree. 



You may sometimes see Rosella Parrots nipping 

 off the blossoms of the wattle, but the birds do not, 

 of course, obtain nectar from the "dear little heads 

 of gold." To supply this among smaller plants is 

 chiefly the function of the heath-shrubs (Epacris), 

 which now are shaking their dainty pink and white 

 bells on the mountains. And in this case the Spine- 

 billed Honey eat ars have a monopoly. Why? Simply 

 because they are the only birds possessing bills long 

 enough, and slender enough, to penetrate the deli- 

 cate flowers. Personally, I have seen few more 

 charming sights in early August than a company of 

 the graceful Spinebills flashing in, out, and round 

 about the colorful clusters of heath in the grey 

 Pyrenees Range, what time their wings made a 

 sharp, clipping sound, or reverberated rapidly as 

 the Honeyeaters poised, Humming-Bird-like, before 

 a flower. The picture was a beautiful living minia- 

 ture, fit to rank with the magnificence of the effects 

 created as the heavy white fog of morning melted 

 in the noonday sun, and rose pall on pall above the 

 valleys. 



It is as yet rather early for the Spinebill to do 

 more than "think" of nesting. About the lower hills, 

 however, and in all bushy areas which are neither 

 too dry nor too damp, its Yellow-tufted, Fuscous, 

 and White-plumed cousins are already engaged in 

 constructing their fibrous little homes, while 



