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Mr. A. J. North,



coast district, and the Spotted Bower-bird (Chlamy clod era maculata )

of the drier scrubs and belts of timber and bushes which are dotted

about or intersect the plains of the central and western districts of

the State. The love of the beautiful is always displayed by these

birds in the formation and manner of adornment of their playing-

places, from the primitive bower made by the Regent Bower-bird to

the larger and more compactly built structure of the Spotted Bower-

bird, which is profusely decorated with bones, pebbles, pieces of

glass, fresh-water shells, and seeds ; also, preferably, any bright,

metallic articles, such as nails, capsules, ends of wire, empty metal

cartridge cases, etc., picked up about its haunts or pilfered from

some tent, hut, or dwelling. A single representative of the allied

family, Paradiseidae, in the Rifle-bird ( Ptilorhis paradisea ) inhabits

the northern coastal districts. Its egg is one of the most beautiful

of all the eggs of Australian birds. Equally remarkable, too, is the

Family Menuridaa, all the three species of which are found in New

South Wales. Prince Albert’s Lyre-bird ( Menura alberti) occurs in

the extreme north-eastern portion of the State, Queen Victoria’s

Lyre-bird (Ilf. Victoria) inhabiting the south-eastern corner, and the

common Lyre-bird i M. superbcc ) New South Wales.


The numerous Family Meliphagidse, or Honey-eaters, over

thirty species of which occur in the State, frequenting chiefly the

forests of Eucalypti, Acacia, Banksia, and Melaleuca, and so well

adapted with their brush-like tongues to secure their food, play an

important part in the pollination of these and other trees and shrubs.

No more beautiful sight could be witnessed by a bird-lover than to

stand in winter beneath some giant “ feeding-tree,” preferably one of

the Eucalypti, its foliage almost hidden by its large trusses of snowy-

white flowers, and watch the different birds coming and going.

Within a few miles of Sydney one may often see eight to ten species

of Honey-eater feeding on the same tree. At Middle Harbour I

have observed at one time the Fulvous-fronted, White-cheeked,

Yellow-faced, and Short-billed Honey-eaters busily engaged in ex¬

tracting the nectar and small insects from a single flowering stalk of

a Grass-tree ( Xanthorrhcea hastata).


Over twenty species are found at one season or another in the

neighbourhood of Sydney. Although they are called Honey-eaters,



