WHITE-EARED HONEYEATER 341 
land. I don't remember whether I found anything 
else that day ; but I know that, ever since, the smell 
of scented geranium calls up a vision of a clearing in 
the gums, furze bushes with seeds that crackle in 
the heat, and my sweet-throated Salfron-birds. 
The White-eared Honeyeater is found at intervals, 
very rare now, in the Queenscliff Road bush, inhabit- 
ing the growths of dwarf ti-tree that one sometimes 
finds in damp places or sandy roadside rises in the 
forest, and also furze-patches surrounded by timber. 
In the cleared districts it does not occur, and one 
must go some distance into the southern messmate 
forest before meeting with it. At Anglesea, and 
particularly following up the creeks, it is one of the 
commonest of bush birds. At Airey's Inlet and be- 
yond I think it is not so numerous. I have never 
seen it at the You Yangs. Its typical resort is a 
valley among timber, wherein there is sufficient 
undergrowth of ti-tree or the like for the bird to 
nest in. For it is a stationary species, breeding in 
the same spot year after year, and remaining there 
all the year through. The nest is firmly set in a 
low fork ; it is strongly built and lined with a thick 
felting of wool or fur. The eggs, two in number, are 
pale cream-colour with a few reddish spots. 
As a remarkable exception as to locality I must 
record a solitary bird of this species which I saw at 
the very extremity of Point Henry, perched on a 
beacon, early in October, 191 3. I cannot suggest 
how it got to such an unlikely spot. 
