212 THE NEW HOLLAND HONEY-EATER. 



The birds of this- genus are very gregarious, delighting to associate in large flocks, and 

 haunting the flower-bearing plants for the purpose of feeding upon the sweet juices and 

 tiny insects which are found within the blossoms. In feeding they thrust their long bill 

 and tono'ue to the very bottom of the flowers, and greatly resemble the bees in that 

 respect. The natives take advantage of their flower-loving and gregarious habits, and by 

 settino- snares in the spot which they love best to haunt, contrive to immolate them in 

 considerable numbers. As the Scarlet Drepanis is but a small bird, being hardly larger 

 than the Ctereba, and as neither the tail nor wing appear to be employed in the structure 

 of the mantles and helmets, it is evident that a vast number of these beautiful little 

 creatures must perish before one chief can be gratified with the completion of a single 

 mantle or the adorning of a single helmet. 



HONEY-EATEES. 



The true Honey-eatees form a very numerous group of birds, all of which are graceful 

 in their forms and pleasing in the colour of their plumage, while in some instances the 

 hues with which they are decorated are so bright as to afford ground for classing them 

 among the really beautiful birds. They all feed on similar substances, which, as indicated 

 by their name, consist chiefly of honey and the sweet juices of flowers, although they 

 also vary their diet by insects and other small living beings. 



The New Holland Honey-eater is a remarkably pretty bird, the whole of its body 

 being covered with black, white, and yellow markings, which stand out in bold contrast 

 to each other. The top of the head is black, and a number of little white feathers are 

 gathered on the forehead. The sides of the head and neck are marked very conspicuously 

 with three streaks of pure white, one of which is drawn over each eye, as if it were 

 intended to stand in the place of an eyebrow, another passes from the nostrils towards 

 the back of the neck, like a moustache, and the third is seen on the side of the neck, so 

 that its whole aspect presents a sufficiently curious appearance. The body and upper 

 part of the wings are deep brown-black, diversified with a narrow line of pale yellow upon 

 the outer edge of each quill-feather, and a slight edging of white around their extremities. 

 The tan is of the same brown-black as the body, edged with yellow, and tij)ped with 

 white on the under surface. The lower parts and abdomen are greyish white, profusely 

 covered with dashes of black. 



This bird is admirably described and figured in Gould's " Birds of Australia," from 

 which the following account of its habits is taken. This bird, according to Gould, is 

 " one of the most abundant and familiar bu^ds inhabiting the colonies of New South 

 Wales, Van Diemen's Land, and South Australia ; all the gardens of the settlers are 

 visited by it, and among their shrubs and flowering plants it annually breeds. It is not 

 a migratory species, but occasionally deserts some district for others whose flowering 

 plants offer it a more tempting locale, and furnish it with a more abimdant supply of 

 food. The belts of Bauksias, growing on sterile, sandy soil, afford it so congenial an 

 asylum, that I am certainly not wrong in stating that they are never deserted by it, or 

 that the one is a certain accompaniment of the other. 



The range enjoyed by this species appears to be confined to the south-eastern portions 

 of Australia ; it is abundant on the sandy districts of South Australia, wherever the 

 Banlvsias abound ; but to the westward of this part of the country I have not traced it. 

 At the Swan, and the other parts of the western coast, it certainly is never found. In 

 Van Diemen's Land it is much more numerous on the northern than the southern portions 

 of the island ; it is also most abundantly dispersed over all the islands in Bass's Straits, 

 whose sterile, sandy soil favours the growth of the Banksias. It is equally common over 

 many parts of the colony of New South Wales ; which may, in fact, be regarded as the 



