THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
sometimes being in an upright position, and more often than not hanging 
by their stiff claws and feet with head downwards, as they secure the nectar 
from the flowers with the aid of the brush tongue ; like other members of 
the family they also eat insects and feed their young upon them to a large 
extent. They are extremely happy birds for, as they hop about in the trees, 
they are ever singing and calling to each other and it is by this that they are 
located, as they keep high up in the tree tops, and when flying they also utter 
their loud musical call at intervals. Their flight is a sharp jerky motion, 
taken in a number of undulating motions. The note of the Black-chinned 
Honey-eater is very distinctive, and is a loud full whistle, jerked out in 9 
sharp, short way and generally in a succession of three calls, sometimes uttered 
while flying and then the call seems to fit in with the undulating flight of the 
bird. The breeding season has a very wide range, starting in July and ending 
in December, as I have seen nests in both these months at the Reedbeds and 
also during the intermediate months ; I am of the opinion that when the 
bird starts early it has a second clutch and so ends late ; the nest is very 
characteristic. ’ ’ 
Mr. Thos. P. Austin has written me: “ The only time I have seen this 
species was during a spring, about 1890, in the Geelong district, Victoria. 
They suddenly arrived in hundreds and a great many of them nested in hedges 
on the Geelong to Queenscliff road.” 
Mr. A. G. Campbell wrote me : “ The stronghold in Victoria of this species 
is the gold-bearing Silurian country of the north-east timbered with Ironbark 
(Eucalyptus leucoxylon). A specimen was procured one winter from a flock in 
the Werribee Plains within 20 miles of Melbourne.” 
Air. F. E. Howe writes; “ When first shot the colour round the eyes was 
of a beautiful turquoise-blue, but it rapidly fades. The call of this bird 
reminded me of that of Meliphaga phrygia .” 
Captain S. A. White has written me: “ M. gvlaris is a widely-distributed 
bird and a common one in the Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia, and in 
the plains adjacent to them. Its loud, clear and musical note is often beard 
in the springtime. It moves about in small parties of five or six to a dozen 
most of the year, but as nesting-time comes they pair off. The first signs of 
pairing is to see them mobbing in ten or a dozen in the air, then fluttering 
to the ground, where they tumble over all in a mass calling loudly all 
the time.” 
Captain S. A. White had published a note to which he referred me: “ This 
large Melilhreptus is a resident at the Reedbeds, where it breeds. Although 
they as a rule only call in the nesting season or about the time the early rains 
fall, still they are to be met with silently hunting amongst the gum-tops at almost 
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