SOUTH AND CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 199 



brownish and the young begin as browns. These 

 hatch out in fourteen days, and leave the nest on 

 the ninth or tenth day after being hatched. 



The white-backed section keeps more to the 

 interior, with its salt-bush and cotton-bush plains. 



SOUTHERN YELLOW-THROATED FRIAR 

 BIRD 



BLUE-FACED HONEY-EATER 



The Friar Bird, or Leather-head, is one of the 

 large honey-eaters without feathers on its cowl- 

 like head. 



It is a bird with an abundance of confidence in 

 itself, as it will continuously steal from orchards 

 unless effectually stopped. Map 86, a, approxi- 

 mately shows the southern limit of its range from 

 north to south. It is a bird of the warm inland 

 parts and gets smaller in size the further north it 

 is found. In the several islands off northern Aus- 

 tralia there are a number of species of Friar Birds 

 and there are a number of other birds (Orioles) 

 mimicing them. It is a good case of protective 

 mimicry ; the weak resembling the strong in colour. 



The Blue-faced Honey-eater is also an interior 

 species, not passing the Great Divide in the south. 

 It is large bodied, with a brilliant blue green face, 

 and may be considered a handsome bird. In the 

 breeding season it has the rather strange way of 

 using the nest of the Babbler by building its own 



