THE SEARCHERS. J 



are glossy violet-green, and those of the exterior browri, with a purple sheen on the outei web. The 

 eye is dark brown, the upper mandible black, the lower one brown, and the foot greyish black. The 

 female is olive-green on the back, and yellowish green on the under side. The wing measures two 

 inches and three-eighths, and the tail three inches. 



The Cadet inhabits the northern and eastern parts of India, and is often met with in the 

 Himalayas at an altitude of 2,500 feet above the level of the sea. 



The BENT-BEAKS {Cyrtostomus) are distinguishable by their very decidedly curved beak, 

 which equals the head in length, is blunt at its margins, and slightly incised towards its very sharp 

 tip ; the tarsus is comparatively high, the tail short and rounded, and the wings, in which the fourth 

 and fifth quills are the longest, of moderate size. The plumage is of an olive-green on the upper 

 parts of the body, and brightly coloured in the region of the throat. 



THE AUSTRALIAN BLOSSOM RIFLER. 



The Australian Blossom Rifler (Cyrtostomus Australis) is olive-green on the back, and of a 

 beautiful bright yellow on the under side ; the throat and upper breast are steel-blue. A short yellow 

 streak passes over the eyes, and beneath this runs a long line of deeper shade ; the eye is chestnut- 

 brown, and the beak and feet black. The female is of an uniform yellow on the under side. 

 According to Gould, the body of this species measures four inches and three-quarters, the wing two 

 inches and one-eighth, and the tail two inches and a half. 



" This pretty bird," says Macgillivray, as quoted by Gould, " appears to be distributed along the 

 whole coast of Australia, the adjacent islands, and the whole of the islands in Jones's Straits. 

 Although thus generally distributed, it is nowhere numerous, seldom more than a pair being seen 

 together. Its habits resemble those of the Ptilotes, with which it often associates, but still more 

 closely those of the Myzomela azura ; like those birds, it resorts to the flowering trees, to feed 

 upon the insects which frequent the blossoms, especially those of a species of Sciodophyllum. This 

 singular tree, whose range on the north-eastern coast and that of the Australian Sun Bird appears to 

 be the same, is furnished with enormous spike-like racemes of small scarlet flowers, which attract 

 numbers of insects, and thus furnish an abundant supply of appropriate food. The Blossom Rifler is 

 of a pugnapious disposition, as I have more than once seen ; it drives away and pursues any visitor to 

 the same tree. Perhaps this disposition is only exliibited during the breeding season. The nests we 

 found at Cape York were pensile, and attached to the twig of a prickly bush ; one, measuring seven 

 inches in length, was of an elongated shape, with a rather large opening on one side, close to the 

 top; it was composed of shreds of Melaleuca bark, a few leaves, various fibrous substances, 

 rejectamenta of caterpillars, &c., and lined with the silky cotton of the Bombyx Avstralis. The eggs 

 were pear-shaped, mottled with dirty brown, on a greenish grey ground. Another nest, found at 

 Mount Ernest, Jones's Straits, differs from those seen in Cape York, in having over the entrance a 

 projecting fringe-like hood, composed of the panicles of a delicate grass-like plant. It contained two 

 young birds, and I saw the mother visit them twice in an interval of ten minutes. She glanced past 

 like an arrow, perched at once on the^ nest, clinging to the lower side of the entrance, and looked 

 round very watchfully for a few seconds before feeding the young, after whicli she disappeared as 

 suddenly as she arrived." 



The SPIDER-EATERS {AracJmothera) are short, compactly-built birds, with extraordinarily 

 long and often strangely-formed beaks, which in most species are very decidedly curved and 

 delicately incised at the margins. The nostrils are covered with a skin, and only open inferiorl)-, 



