THE SINGING HONEY-EATER, 131 



Here we have another example of an Austrahan singing bird, 

 for the melody of this creature is so loud, so full, and so rich in 

 tone, that Mr. Gould compares it to that of the missel thrush. 

 It is a soberly-coloured bird, though easily identified, the back 

 being pale brown, the top of the head yellow, and a deep black 

 patch passing over the eye and turning downwards along the 

 side of the neck. It is a hvely bird, as are all those feathered 

 creatures which feed chiefly on insects, and even in mid-winter 

 its melodious song may be heard in full vigour. 



There is a very common tree in Australia, popularly called 

 the myall, known to scientific botanists as Acacia pendula. The 

 twigs of the tree are long and very slender, and the leaves are 

 so narrow and delicate that at a little distance they look more 

 like grass-blades than the leaf of a tree. The reader may re- 

 member that this is a characteristic of all drooping or 'weeping' 

 trees, the leaf and the twig being slender in proportion to each 

 other. The weeping birch and the- weeping willow of our own 

 country are good examples of this peculiarity. 



Thus, as both the leaves and the twigs of the myall are 

 extraordinarily long and slender, the tree is chosen by many 

 birds which build pensile nests, as will be seen in the course of 

 this volume. It seems a tree that was made for the express 

 purpose, because the long and slender twigs serve the double 

 purpose of affording a firm attachment for the nest and sus- 

 pending it where no ordinary foe can reach it, while the deli- 

 cate leaves give their aid in fastening the nest to the twigs, and 

 at the same time serve to conceal the structure from prying 

 eyes. 



Although the general structure of the nest is the same in all 

 parts of the country, the materials necessarily differ. In New 

 South Wales, the external shell of the nest is formed of ver>' 

 fine dry stalks, not thicker than twine, while the lining is com- 

 posed of fibrous roots, matted together with spiders' webs. It 

 is fastened by the rim to the twigs, and as a few of the slender 

 twigs occasionally are interwoven into the nest, it hangs quite 

 securely. In Western Australia, the nest is made of grasses, 

 which, although green when first woven, become white and 



