168 
AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 
F. 142. XECTARIXIIDAE (1), SUX-BIRDS, 234 sp — 
36(33)A., 77i74)0., 2(1)P., 123(122)E. 
F. 143. Promcropidae, Promerops, 2 sp. E. (S. Afr.). 
F. 144. MELIPHAGIDAE (88), HONEY-EATERS. Honey- 
Suckers (-Birds), 251 sp.— 2 50 (250) A., 1(1)0. 
11 342*'A\liite-naped Honey-eater (Lunulated) , Blackcap, 
11 Melithreptus atricapiUus, S.Q., N.S.W., V., S.A., Kent 
Group. Stat. v.c. thnher 5.5 
Upper yellowish-olive; quills brown; head, hind-neck 
black; narrow white band on nape; under white; naked 
patch about eye orange-scarlet; f., sim.; young no black 
cap. Tame. Honey, pollen, insects. Peevish, half- 
whistling note. 
is the Honey-eaters. Flowering eucalypts and other myrtaceous 
plants, with their honey-bearing flowers and usually inedible 
fruits, are the characteristic Australian trees; so are these birds, 
depending so largely on the honey of these brilliant flowers and 
rhe insects which visit them, the characteristic Australian birds. 
The Honey-eaters form a very large family, and are found 
throughout the Australian region as far as New Zealand and 
away to the Sandwich Islands, which, zoologically, belong to Aus- 
tralia. Strange it is that only one species should have spread to 
the west across Wallace's line to the island of Bali. These birds 
are provided with a brush tongue, which is used in brushing up 
honey from the flowers. They have usually a long, slender, curved 
