100 MATESHIP WITH BIRDS 



claws of a young Gippsland Bell-Miner, by the way, 

 I found to be, in a comparative sense, the strongest 

 of any baby bird I had ever met.) It has been 

 pointed out also that the nests and nesting habits 

 of the 90 species are various rather than distinct. 

 And now it remains to be noted that the general 

 evidence of relationship is carried through to the 

 eggs. May it not be that the honey diet has some- 

 thing to do with the delicate pink "back-ground" 

 coloring of the eggs of this characteristic family? 

 But then the Lorikeets, which are equally fond of 

 nectar, lay pure white eggs in the hollows of trees; 

 the sweet-voiced Silver-eyes, which may often be 

 seen in city gardens along with the pretty, yellow- 

 winged, White-bearded Honeyeater, lay pure blue 

 eggs; and the Wood-Swallows, three species of 

 which I have known capriciously to feast heartily on 

 the nectar of silky oak and eucalypt, also produce 

 eggs very differently colored to those of the Honey- 

 Birds proper. 



Heigho ! shall we ever have an end to these pretty 

 puzzles? And what a world of prose this would be 

 if we had! 



