AXTOdLKKA CARUNCTLATA. 



WATTLED HONEY-EATER. 



rillll'i whole of the Bouthem portion of the Continent of Australia is inhabited by this species, 

 which was first described under the name of* Merops CarunculatUS by Latham. It is most 

 abundant in the Apple-tree Mats and Eucalyptus forests of New South Wales and South Australia, 

 but is never (bund in Tasmania. It is seen in pairs, but is very difficult of approach, on account of 

 its timid nature, though sometimes it becomes very bold. Like the Antoch<p,va Inauris, it utters a 

 I' aid. harsh scream. 



During the breeding season, which is in September and October, it builds, either on a branch 

 of an Angophora (apple-tree), or in a bush, a nest of dried twigs, sometimes lined with grass and 

 sometimes without any lining. The eggs, two or three in number, are of a reddish-buff, with spots 

 and blotches of chestnut and reddish-brown distributed over the surface. In some there are also 

 small, indistinct marks of grey. The}'' are one and a quarter inches long by ten and a half lines broad. 



This bird is slightly smaller than the Antochfera Inauris, the female being of less size than 



the male. 



Crown of tin; head, ear-coverts and chin, blackish-brown: space under the eye, si 1 very- white ; 

 below it is a short, pendulous wattle of a blood-red colour ; back of the neck and all the upper-surface, 

 greyish-brown ; primaries and secondaries, blackish-brown, edged with grey ; two middle tail-feathers, 

 greyish-brown, the remainder darker brown, all being tipped with white ; beneath the ear-coverts a 

 patch of white; breast, light brown, the centre of each feather being white; upper parts of abdomen 

 and flanks, blackish-grey, the centre of each feather lighter: middle of abdomen, yellow; irides, hazol- 

 red ; bill, blackish-brown; legs and feet, flesh-colour. 



Habitats: New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and southern part of Western 



Australia. 



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