THE POE BIKD. 217 



is made of wool, hair, and any other soft and warm substance that the bird may be able 

 to obtain. It is generally placed among the upright branches of some small tree, so that 

 in spite of its size it is not so easily detected as might be imagined. The eggs are a 

 bluish-white, covered uniformly with small spots of reddish-brown. 



The colouring of this bird is sober, but pleasing in its general effect. The top of the 

 head is black, and the face and remainder of the head grey, with the exception of a broad 

 dash of black which reaches from the ear to the angle of the mouth, and looks exactly as 

 if it had been laid on with a single sweep of a brush dipped in ivory black. The whole 

 of the upper surface is a light greyish-brown, each feather on the neck being tipped with 

 a beautiful silver grey. The wings are dark brown, diversified with longitudinal streaks 

 of yellow, produced by the bright yellow colour which stains the outer web of each quill- 

 feather. The tail is greyish-brown, streaked with narrow dark-brown lines in consequence 

 of the shafts of the feathers being coloured by that hue. The under surface is gTey, with 

 the exception of a dark-brown patch which is found upon the chin. The eyes are 

 hazel. 



The size of the Garrulous Honey-eater equals that of a large thrush. 



Another very curious species of Honey-eater is placed in the same genus, and 

 attracts admiration, not so much on account of its plumage or its interesting habits, as on 

 account of its voice, which is so bell-like in its tone that the colonists know it by the 

 popular name of Bell Bird. This species must not, however, be confounded with the 

 Bell Bird, or Arapunga, of tropical America, which belongs to a totally different tribe. 

 Moreover, the voice of the two birds is very different ; that of the Arapunga resembling 

 the slow solemn tolling of a church-bell, while that of the Australian Bell Bird is 

 wonderfully similar to the sharp merry tinkle of the sheep-bell. The scientific name for 

 the Australian Bell Bird is Myzantha melanoplirys. 



In his " Gleanings of a Naturalist," Dr. Bennett speaks as follows of this curious 

 little bird : — 



" Among the dense forest trees skirting the margins of the rivers, the note of the Bell 

 Bird is almost incessantly heard ; it is sometimes uttered by a solitary bird, and at others 

 by many congregated together : this I observed on the banks of the Nepean river, in 

 October, when I saw them in greater numbers than usual. The Bell Bird is named 

 GilhuUa by the blacks of the Murrumbidgee district. The peculiar tinkling sound made 

 by this little bird is heard with delight by the wearied and thirsty traveller, as an 

 indication of water near at hand. I have also heard these birds utter loud garrulous 

 notes. At the Nepean they sported among the branches of the trees in search of insects, 

 and I remember that the tinkling note was uttered while they were quietly perched 

 upon a branch, but the garrulous notes were used only when they were seen flitting in 

 sportive gaiety amid the branches of the trees." 



Among this group of birds the PoE Bird, or Tue, or Parson Bird, is one of the most 

 conspicuous, being nearly as remarkable for its peculiar colouring as the rifle bird itself, 

 although the hues of its feathers are not quite so resplendently briUiant as in that 

 creature. 



The Poe Bird is a native of New Zealand, where it is far from uncommon, and is 

 captured by the natives for the jDurposes of sale. Many individuals are brought over to 

 Sydney, where, according to Dr. Bennett, they are kept in cages, and are very amusing in 

 their habits, being easily domesticated and becoming very familiar with those who belong 

 to the household. Independently of its handsome and rather peculiar colour, which 

 make it very effective in a room, it possesses several other qualifications which render it 

 a very desirable inhabitant of an aviary. Its native notes are very fine, the bird being 

 considered a remarkably fine songster, and it also possesses the power of mimicking in a 

 degree surpassing that of the common magpie or raven, and hardly yielding even to the 

 famous mocking-bird himself. It learns to speak with great accuracy and fluency, and 

 readily imitates any sound that may reach its ear, being especially successful in its 

 reproduction of the song of other birds. 



