THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
was everywhere found to be very numerous. In the main street of Cairns 
there used to be a large Fig-tree, and these birds could be seen coming and 
going all day long, and their incessant chattering and screeching used to be 
almost deafening at times. At Boar Pocket, in the month of September, 
numbers could be seen clinging to the trunks of trees we used to call 
c weeping pines,’ which had drooping branches like a willow. These birds 
were apparently feeding upon a resinous exudation, which seemed to affect 
them, giving them a dazed and stupid look. I have very often seen them 
lose hold of the trunks of those trees, fall to the ground, roll over, then get 
on then.’ legs and give their wings a flap or two, and remain there ten or 
fifteen minutes before they could recover and fly off to some other trees. 
Birds we caught, while thus affected, or shot, were useless as specimens, as 
their plumage was more or less covered with this sticky juice or resinous 
exudation.” H. G. Barnard’s note reads : “ Breeds from June to December 
and lays two eggs for a sitting, the site selected being a hollow spout in any 
species of Eucalyptus, dead or alive, the eggs being placed from one to two 
feet from the entrance. When the female is sitting, the male bird collects 
honey from the flowering trees, returning to the nest shortly before sundown, 
enters the hollow, where he remains for a short time while presumably 
feeding the female. Both birds then leave the hole, returning just after 
sundown, when they re-enter and remain for the night. At one time these 
birds bred freely in this district (Duaringa, Queensland), but I have not seen 
a nest since the big drought of 1902.” Dr. Macgillivray’s notes follow : 
“ Is numerous throughout the district (Hamilton, Victoria) and destroys a 
great quantity of fruit annually, and is not at all particular as to the kind 
of fruit, seeming able to assimilate the hardest Pear as easily as the softest 
Plum. This is not to be wondered at when one finds that this bird, which 
in a state of nature lives on nothing but the honey of the Eucalyptus, can 
so adapt itself to altered conditions of life as to live on grain in captivity. 
4 I have a record of one which lived in a small aviary for seventeen years, 
never getting any other food than wheat and canary seed. The Blue Gums 
in the streets of Coleraine bloomed continuously from May until November 
one year, and provided during the whole of this period a continued feast 
for immense numbers of these birds, as well as other honey eaters. Adult 
birds captured by being trapped or stunned, live well in captivity, and soon 
become reconciled to their lot.” 
The subspecific forms of this species are certainly two, but probably more 
may later be defined. 
It was not until 1900 that Robinson named specimens from Cooktown, 
North Queensland, subsp. septentrionalis, on account of their smaller size 
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