THE LITTLE HUMMING-BIRD. BIRDS. THE NEW HOLLAND HONEY-EATER. 



313 



down of seeds. There are several other species of this 

 genus all exhibiting the same metallic brilliancy in 

 their gorgets. 



THE LITTLE HUMMING-BIRD (Mellisuga minima}, 

 which may be regarded as the smallest known species 

 of this family, as it measures only about two inches and 

 a half in length, is an inhabitant of Jamaica and St. 

 Domingo. The male of this little feathered fairy has 

 the upper parts dark shining green, the wings purplish- 

 brown, and the tail black ; the lower surface is white, 

 speckled with black on the chin and throat, and tinged 

 with green on the abdomen ; the bill and feet are black. 

 The female greatly resembles the male, but has the 

 whole lower surface pure white, and the lateral tail 

 feathers tipped with white. Of this species Mr. Gosse 

 says " The present is the only Humming-bird with 

 which I am acquainted that has a real song. Soon 

 after sunrise in the spring months, it is fond of sitting 

 on the topmost twig of a mango or orange-tree, where 

 it warbles in a very weak but very sweet tone, a con- 

 tinuous melody for ten minutes at a time. It has little 

 variety. The others have only a pertinacious chirping." 

 The charming writer just quoted also gives us the 

 following graphic description of the manners of this 

 diminutive creature : " I have sometimes watched 

 with great delight," he says, " the evolutions of this 

 little species at a moringa-tree. When only one is 

 present, he pursues the round of the blossoms soberly 

 enough, sucking as he goes, and every now and anon, 

 sitting quietly on a twig. But if two are about the 

 tree, one will fly off, and, suspending himself in the air 

 a few yards distant, the other presently shoots off to 

 him, and there without touching each other, they mount 

 upwards with a strong rushing of wings, perhaps for 

 five hundred feet. They then separate, and each shoots 

 diagonally towards the ground like a ball from a rifle, 

 and, wheeling round, comes up to the blossoms again, 

 and sucks, and sucks, as if it had not moved away at all. 

 Frequently one alone will mount in this manner, or dart 

 on invisible wing diagonally upward, looking exactly 

 like a Humble bee." Mr. Gosse also states that this 

 is the only Jamaican Humming-bird that haunts the 

 low growing plants of the pastures; he says it is exceed- 

 ingly partial to the West Indian Vervain (Stachytar- 

 pheta). The nest is a minute cup-shaped structure 

 placed upon or between the twigs of trees, &c. ; it is 

 composed of silk cotton (the down of the Bombax), and 

 ornamented externally with fragments of lichen. 



FAMILY IV. MELIPHAGID^. 



Just as the Humming-birds are confined to the con- 

 tinent of America and its islands, the small flower- 

 haunting birds of the present family are peculiar to 

 Australia, a very few species only being met with else- 

 where, and these only in New Guinea and New Zealand 

 countries, which, in so many cases, appear to harbour 

 the outlying members of truly Australian groups. 



The Meliphagidce or Honey-eaters have usually a 

 long, curved, and acute bill, of which the upper man- 

 dible is generally notched faintly at the tip ; the nos- 

 trils are placed in a large groove, and usually covered 

 with a membranous scale; the tail is elongated, and 

 VOL. I. 



wedge-shaped, and the first three quills of the rather 

 short wings are graduated; that is, they gradually 

 increase in length to the third ; the tarsi are short 

 and stout, and terminated by long toes, of which the 

 outer is always united to the middle one at the base. 

 Another character presented by these birds consists in 

 the structure of the tongue, which is not only long arid 

 protrusible as in the Humming-birds, but furnished at 

 its tip with a small tuft or brush of delicate filaments, 

 which are of the greatest service to the birds in sweep- 

 ing out the honey and pollen, and with these the 

 minute beetles and other insects from the flowers, 

 which they so assiduously frequent. These substances 

 constitute the food of nearly all the species, although 

 some also capture insects from the leaves and branches 

 of trees, and a few are said to feed partly upon fruits. 

 Few of them possess any power of song. 



THE NEW HOLLAND HONEY-EATER (Mellphaga 

 Novce Hollandice), the type of the typical genus of 

 this family, is one of the most abundant birds in the 

 southern and eastern colonies of Australia and in Van 

 Diemen's Land, but does not occur in Western Aus- 

 tralia. It is not migratory, but appears occasionally 

 to quit one district for another, probably in search of 

 some more attractive food ; but from its partiality for 

 the Banksice, which grow principally on barren sandy 

 districts bordering the coasts, it is usually seen most 

 abundantly in the vicinity of the sea, and becomes 

 more rare in the interior of the country. The total 

 length of this bird is about seven inches. The upper 

 surface is brownish-black, the lower surface white 

 streaked with black ; the head and cheeks are black, 

 with the forehead, a streak over each eye, and -a small 

 patch behind the ears white ; the qiiill feathers of the 

 wings and the lateral feathers of the tail are broadly 

 margined externally, from the base to near the tip, with 

 bright yellow ; the two centre feathers of the tail are 

 entirely brownish-black ; the remainder have a white 

 spot at the tip. This bird breeds commonly in the 

 gardens of the colonists, and rears two or three broods 

 in the season. The nest is usually placed in a shrub or 

 bush at about eighteen inches or two feet from the 

 ground ; it is composed of sticks, grass, and bark, and 

 lined with vegetable downy matter. The eggs are two 

 or three in number, of a pale buff colour, and speckled 

 with chestnut brown, especially towards the larger end. 



THE LONG -BILLED HONEY -EATER (Mdiphaga 

 longirostris}. This species, which very closely resem- 

 bles the preceding, and indeed differs from it principally 

 in the greater length and stoutness of the bill, replaces 

 it in the western parts of the Australian continent, 

 being found, according to Mr. Gould, in " all those 

 districts of the Swan River settlement in which there 

 are Banksias." The habits of the two birds are very 

 similar. Two other nearly allied species, the WHITE- 

 CHEEKED and the MOUSTACHED HONEY-EATER (M. 

 sericea and mystacalis), are in like manner mutually 

 representative in eastern and western Australia, the 

 former being found in New South Wales, and the latter 

 in the Swan River district. 



THE TASMANIAN HONEY-EATER (Meliphaga aiis- 

 tralasiana), a small species about five inches and a half 

 in length, appears to be peculiar to Van Diemen's Land, 



SB 



