19 
The honey-eater intermediate in size 
is the Tasmanian honey-eater (4), known 
as the liorse-slioe. It is also found on 
the banksia fringe of S. Victoria. In 
the tree directly above the cook's camp 
we could see and hear the strong-hilled 
honey-eater. It was hunting for small 
insects. The most conspicuous of all 
the birds about our camp was the New 
Holland honey-eater (5). It had plenty 
of action in its voice, hut little music. 
Early and lote the deafest of us could 
hear this little bird, at least twice in 
the day, with its clamour greatest first 
and last. The Dutch voyagers specially 
refer to this little striped bird. 
A prominent part of the anatomy of 
this family is in the structure of the 
tongue: it terminates in a brush, which 
is useful either to abstract insects from 
the flowers, or by means of a series of 
fine tubes, to draw the nectar from the 
flower within its month. 
Apart from the honey-eating family, 
we met a bird with a .similar tongue-— 
the sordid wood-swallow (6). This lit¬ 
tle bird, beautiful in everything but its 
name, was found gracefully flying about 
a mile from the camp. Judging by the 
plumage of certain ones, it had been 
their nesting ground. Beneath the 
bushes over which the wood-swallow was 
soaring the blue wren (71 was quietly 
moving. This usually bright little bird 
is quite without its voice of springtime, 
and had moulted its coat of blue. In 
certain seasons the young male wren 
will moult early and get its blue quick¬ 
ly ; this year we could not see those 
signs. 
Above the same ti-tree wood the fairy 
martens (8) were quickly gliding (or its 
next of kin, the tree marten). We 
were not able to distinguish the species 
on the wing. Tf it were the fairy mar¬ 
ten. it is the first record of the bird 
being found so far south in Tasmania. 
It is a pretty sight to see a cluster of 
the retort-shaped nests of this exquisite 
little bird. 
Our camp was sadly wanting in the 
voices of those birds which are known 
to sing, and sing well in the spring, 
e.g., we had the whistling shrike thrush 
(9). At Easter time this grey bird lias 
little, if anything, to say for Itself, 
while in the spring few birds con com¬ 
pare with its liquid song of the dawn. 
We had some compensation, however, 
in the autumn singer, the butcher bird 
or collared crow-shrike (10), the male 
bird only, having the collar, unfortun¬ 
ately, it kept in the distance. 
The smallest warbler was the brown 
tail (11). There was a family among 
the bushes of our drinking creek, where 
we could hear the parents introducing 
the young ones, in a continuous twitter. 
This little bird builds a dome-shaped 
nest, and • ets as the foster-parent of 
the bronze cuckoos. We heard no 
cuckoos, and could only suspect that 
they had migrated northwards. 
Occasionally we caught glimpses of 
the little field wren (12) that seemed to 
have a dread of leaving the low bushes. 
No sooner would it rise to view than 
it would sink out of sight, remaining so 
till one’s patience was exhausted. This 
wren lays a strangely-coloured egg in a 
well-hidden nest. 
We met but one species of robin— 
the scarlet-breasted (.13). Of the dia¬ 
mond birds we can record two species, 
the allied (14) and the spotted (15). 'Die 
former bird is known as a destroyer of 
scale insects; it is a pleasant sight to 
see them travelling along the branches 
in search of this food. With this genus 
both sexes take part in building the 
nest. At times they tunnel into a bank, 
and when the excavators have got 
about two feet in, they’ continue to 
work in the dark, and eventually make 
their home comfortable. At other 
times these birds will build in the hol¬ 
low of a tree; these are the allied 
species. 
Occasionally on the wind came the caw 
of a raven or a crow—which we do not 
know, as they can only be identified in 
the hand. 
The strong "clank” of the hill crow 
shrike would locate this bird without 
any difficulty on the part of the ob¬ 
server. Their ways were generally shy, 
even in this quiet part. The only par¬ 
rot seen was the yellow bellied parra- 
keet (17), the only species of the parrot 
family in this locality. A few _ were 
passing a quiet autumn immediately 
behind the camp. 
The ground-loving bird of the hillside 
was the spotted ground thrush (18). 
It frequents the dry areas, where there 
is much powdered granite. Tt nests 
upon the ground, and when disturbed 
rises with the burr of a quail, so well- 
known to sportsmen. 
Plying high above all these birds we- 
saw the spine-tailed Swift (19)—the 
