90 MATESHIP WITH BIRDS 



forests in the early Summer of 1913, and never a 

 sign of them was to be seen during the whole 

 of the following year this despite the fact that all 

 other species of honey-eating birds were as 

 numerous as ever. Even a pair that had nested in 

 the same tree for three successive years failed to 

 return. What took those birds away? And where 

 did they spend the intervening period? These are 

 problems still unsolved. I know only that there was 

 keen pleasure (and some relief) in more than one 

 breast when the mellifluous "clink-clank" of the 

 prodigals echoed again about their old haunts in 

 August of 1915. 



It is a happy coincidence, and, incidentally, a 

 notable corrective of the old "songless bright birds" 

 impression, that the Honeyeater which shares with 

 its Regent relative the family honors for beauty, is 

 also the possessor of a most musical voice. This 

 is the fiery little sprite known to ornithologists as 

 Myzomela sanguineolenta, the Scarlet Honeyeater, 

 and to less fastidious folk as the "Blood-Bird." It 

 is a member of a genus which numbers over 50 

 species, half a dozen of which enliven the Aus- 

 tralian landscape. Essentially a denizen of the richly- 

 vegetated areas of the east coast, the Scarlet Honey- 

 Bird is seldom seen in Victoria, is occasionally 

 numerous about Sydney in the Summer-time, and is 

 quite familiar to coastal Queenslanders in the 

 Spring. Individuals may be also heard about 

 Southern Queensland in the cooler months, but the 

 main body of the birds are then among the flower- 

 ing trees and shrubs in the far North. 



The tea-tree (Melaleuca) and bottle-brush (Cal- 



