74 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



diminutive stomaclis are especially formed for this kind of food, and the peculiar insects which con- 

 stitute a portion of it ? " 



THE WARTY-FACED HOXEY-EATER (Meliphaga plirygia). 



Mr. Gould gives the following account of this species : " This is not only one of the handsomest 

 of the Honey-eaters, but is also one of the most beautiful birds inhabiting Australia, the strongly-con- 

 trasted tints of the black and yellow plumage rendering it a most conspicuous and pleasing object, 

 particularly dining flight. It is a stationary species, and enjoys a range extending from South Australia 

 to New South Wales; I also met with it in the interior nearly as far north as the latitude of Moreton Bay. 

 Although it is very generally distributed, its presence appears to be dependent upon the state of the 

 JSucalypti, upon whose blossoms it mainly depends for subsistence ; it is consequently only to be found 



in any particular locality during the 

 season that these trees are in bios 

 som. It generally resorts to the 

 loftiest and most fully-flowered tree, 

 where it frequently reigns supreme, 

 buffeting and driving every other 

 bird away from its immediate neigh- 

 bourhood. It is, in fact, the most 

 pugnacious bird I ever saw, evincing 

 particular hostility to the smaller 

 Meliphagidce, and even to others of 

 its own species that may ventm'e to 

 approach the trees upon which two 

 or three have taken their station. 

 While at Adelaide, in South 

 Australia, I observed two pairs that 

 had possessed themselves of one of 

 the high trees that had been, left 

 standing in the middle of the city, 

 which tree, during the whole period 

 of my stay, they kept sole possession 

 of, sallying forth and beating off 

 every bird that came near. I met 



WATTLED HOXEY-EATEK. (After Gould.) with ^ in g reat abundance among 



the brushes of New South Wales, 



and also found it breeding among the low apple-tree flats of the Upper Hunter. I have occasionally 

 seen flocks of from fifty to a hundred in number, passing from tree to tree, as if engaged in a partial 

 migration from one part of the country to another, or in search of a more abundant supply of food. 



" The nest, which is usually constructed on the overhanging branch of an Eucalyptus, is round, 

 cup-shaped, about five inches in diameter, composed of fine grass, and lined with a little wool and hair. 

 The eggs are two in number, of a deep yellowish-buff, marked all over with indistinct spots and 

 irregular blotches of chestnut red and dull purplish-grey, particularly at the larger end, where they 

 frequently form a zone : they are eleven lines long by eight lines and a half broad. The stomachs of 

 the specimens I killed and dissected on the Hunter were entirely filled with liquid honey ; insects. 

 however, doubtless form a considerable portion of their diet." 



The sexes are nearly alike in colouring, but the female is much smaller than the male, and the 

 young are destitute of the warty excrescences on the face, that part being partially clothed with 

 feathers. Head, neck, and upper part of the back, chin, and chest black ; scapularies black, broadly 

 .margined with yellowish-white ; upper tail-coverts like the scapularies ; wings black, the coverts 

 margined with yellow; spurious wing yellow; primaries black, with an oblong stripe of yellow occupy- 

 ing the margin of the outer and a portion of the inner web next the quill, which is black ; secondaries 

 black, broadly margined on the outer web with yellow ; under surface black, with an arrow-shaped 



