ACANTHORHYNCHUS SUPERCILIOSUS, Gould. 
White-eyebrowed Spine-bill. 
Acanthorhynchus super ciliosus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 24. 
Bool-jeet, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western Australia. 
Hitherto I have only received this fine and well-marked species of Spine-hilled Honey-eater from 
Western Australia, but hereafter it will doubtless he found to range over a much greater extent of country ; 
although a very local bird, it is tolerably abundant both at Swan River and King George’s Sound, and is 
found to give a decided preference to the forests of Banksias, upon the blossoms of which trees it almost 
solely subsists. Its food, like that of the other members of its family, consists of insects and honey, for 
obtaining which its delicately organized bill and the filamentous form of its tongue are peculiarly adapted ; the 
latter member being capable of considerable protrusion beyond the apex of the bill, thus enabling the bird to 
dive into the deepest interstices of the flowers, which its bill alone would not permit. Like its congeners, 
this species occasionally frequents the low shrub-like trees, and sometimes is even to be observed upon the 
ground in search of food. In its actions it displays great activity, darting about from branch to branch with 
a rapid zigzag motion ; its flight is irregular and uneven, but it often rises perpendicularly in the air, 
uttering at the same time a rather pretty song ; at others it emits a loud and strong note. 
The nest, which is constructed among the large-leaved Banksias, is of a round compact form, and is com- 
posed of dried fine grasses, tendrils of flowers, narrow threads of bark and fine wiry fibrous roots matted 
together with zamia wool, forming a thick body, which is warmly lined with feathers and zamia wool 
mingled together ; the external diameter of the nest is three inches, and that of the cavity about one inch 
and a quarter. The eggs are two in number, nine lines long by six and a half broad ; their ground colour 
in some instances is a delicate buff, in others a very delicate bluish white with a few specks of reddish brown 
distributed over the surface, these specks being most numerous at the larger end, where they frequently 
assume the form of a zone. The breeding-season is in October. 
The sexes present little or no difference in external appearance, hut the female may generally be distin- 
guished from her mate by her more diminutive size and the more slender contour of her body. 
Crown of the head, all the upper surface, wings, and six middle tail-feathers greyish brown, the remainder 
of the tail-feathers black, largely tipped with white and narrowly margined on their external edges with 
brown ; space between the bill and eye, and the ear-coverts blackish brown ; stripe over the eye, chin, and 
a broader stripe beneath the eye white ; back part of the neck light chestnut-brown ; centre of the throat 
rich chestnut, bounded below by a crescent of white, which is succeeded by another of black ; abdomen 
and under tail-coverts light greyish brown, in some specimens deepening into buff ; irides reddish brown ; 
bill black ; legs dark brown. 
The figures are those of a male and a female of the natural size. 
