BLACK-CHINNED HONEY-EATER. 
Adult female similar to the adult male. 
The Immature have the black of the head brownish, and the rest of the plumage not so 
pronounced as the adult. 
Eggs. Two to three eggs form the clutch. A pair taken near Grafton, on the Clarence 
River, New South Wales, on the 30th of December, 1897, is of a pale salmon- 
pink ground-colour, well spotted and specked with rich reddish-brown and purplish- 
grey, becoming confluent towards the larger end of each egg. Rounded ovals 
in shape, surface of shell smooth and rather glossy. 18 mm. by 14. A pair of eggs 
taken at Kellorberrin, West Australia, on the 2nd of November, 1899, measure 
20 mm. by 15. 
Nest. Cup-shaped, and chiefly constructed of strips of bark well bound together with 
cobwebs, etc., and usually suspended in a cluster of foliage on a drooping branch 
of a tree, frequently a Eucalyptus. Lined with hair and fur, etc. Dimensions 
over all 2£ inches by 21 to 2f inches in depth, the egg cavity measuring nearly 
2 inches across, by nearly 2 inches deep. Nest usually placed high up. 
Breeding-months. July to December. 
This species was described by Gould before he went to Australia from 
the “ Interior of New South Wales,” and his field-notes are the earliest on 
record : “ This species is very abundant in all part of South Australia. It 
frequents the large Eucalypti , and during my stay in Adelaide I frequently 
saw it on some of the high trees that had been allowed to remain by the sides 
of the streets in the middle of the city. From this locality it extends its 
range eastward to Victoria and New South Wales. I killed several specimens 
ha the Upper Hunter district, and observed it to be tolerably numerous on 
the plains in the neighbourhood of the river Namoi, and that it breeds in 
these countries is proved by my having shot the young in different stages 
of growth in all of them. It is a very noisy bird, constantly uttering a loud, 
harsh, grating call while perched on the topmost dead or bare branch of a 
high tree, the call being as frequently uttered by the female as by the male. 
Like the Melithreptus lunulatus , it frequents the leafy branches, which it 
threads and creeps among with the greatest ease and dexterity, assuming in 
its progress a variety of graceful attitudes. Insects and the pollen of flowers 
being almost its sole food, those trees abounding with blossoms are visited 
by it in preference to others.” 
Mr. J. W. Mellor’s notes read: “ These birds are not plentiful on the 
Adelaide plains or anywhere else that I have observed them, being more often 
seen in odd pairs or at most three or four in company, never going in large 
companies as ‘ brevirostris ’ often does. They are a very lively and animated 
bird and always on the move even when seen amongst the topmost branches 
of the stately gum trees, as this is their favourite feeding place, sucking the 
honey from the flowers, and all the while clinging to the twigs and leaves. 
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