THE WOMBAT. 6l 



Bream Creek and the Merrijig, or isolated as at " Gillies." 

 In these patches of woodland we may look for rare visitants, 

 especially of the smaller kinds of birds. For instance, at the 

 Dog Rocks, the elsewhere somewhat rare rufous-fronted 

 flycatcher often appears, along with the white-shouldered 

 Lalage or " bee-eater" as it is called here. 



The bush at the Anakies and the You Yangs presents no 

 species that may not be observed in the country south of 

 Geelong, with the exception of a few hawks and crows. 



Coming now to the regular distribution of birds through- 

 out the district, the family which is most in evidence every- 

 where is that of the honey-eaters, of which I propose to note 

 here those species which regularly breed in the Geelong 

 district, or at all events occur as visitors. In the course of 

 some years I have noticed some ten kinds of honey-eaters 

 breeding here, and about half a dozen more as casual visitors. 

 Commonest of the honey-eaters in the open country is the 

 Garrulous Honey-eater {Myzantha garrula), whose loca] [name is 

 minah. .It does not occur in the remoter parts of the Queens- 

 cliff Road bush, nor at all in the Otway Forest proper ; else- 

 where it is plentiful. As early as August 2nd I have taken 

 the eggs of the minah, while I have observed nests building 

 . at Lake Connewarre in July. Its nest is cup-shaped, warm, 

 and deep, lined with wool and hair. It is usually placed in a 

 gum or honey-suckle tree eight or ten feet from the ground. 

 Sometimes, though, a lofty gum tree is chosen, while on the 

 other hand a nest taken in 1891 was built in long grass and 

 bracken. The eggs usually number three, but I remember 

 taking a nest with four eggs near Lake Connewarre in 1888. 

 Along with the rest of the honey-eaters, the minah is frequently 

 made use of by the pallid cuckoo as a foster parent for its egg 

 and subsequent young. The ground colour of the minah's 

 egg differs from the general run of honey-eaters', being much 

 paler in tint, and the egg is generally thickly speckled and 

 blotched with red. The spots generally run together into a 

 patch on the larger end, but are occasionally equally distri- 

 buted over the surface. 



A few minahs may be noticed in the town itself in the 

 winter, but they do not remain after August at the latest. In 

 May, 1889, these birds appeared in great numbers in the 

 Botanical Gardens. It may be remarked that when a minah 

 is flushed from its nest it will fly straight away without making 

 any noise at all. 



Less frequently seen than the minah, but still by no means 

 rare in this district, is the Wattled Honey-eater or wattle bird 



i [Acanthochaera carunculata) . Through the winter the wattle bird 

 assembles in large flocks for the gum blossom, and comes into 



1 the town, but when August and spring arrive they disband 



