STRONG-BILLED HONEY-EATER. 
sides of neck drab-grey ; back, rump, and upper tail-coverts yellowish-green; 
upper wing-coverts and outer aspect of quills drab-brown ; bastard-wing, primary- 
coverts, and inner-webs of flight-quills blackish with buff margins to the last; 
middle tail-feathers similar to the back but somewhat darker and having black 
shafts, the lateral ones hair-brown fringed with yellowish-green on the outer-webs 
of some of the feathers ; chin black with hair-like tips to the feathers ; cheeks white ; 
throat pale grey becoming somewhat darker on the breast; abdomen, sides of 
body, thighs, and under tail-coverts ochroous-brown; axillaries, under wing- 
coverts, and margins of flight-quills below cinnamon-buff rather brighter on the last, 
remainder of quill-lining dark brown ; lower aspect of tail greyish-brown. Eyes 
crimson, orbits turquoise, feet dark orange, bill black. Total length 150 mm. ; 
culmen 13, wing 80, tail 65, tarsus 21. Figured. Collected on King Island, Bass 
Straits, on the 24th of April, 1914. 
Adult male similar to the adult female. 
Immature male. Crown of head, nape, Ions, and rides of face black extending in a 
narrow band across the hind-neck; sides of crown dull white extending in a 
yellowish-green band across the base of the nape ; back, rump, scapulars, upper 
tail-coverts, and outer fringes of tail-feathers bronze-green, inner-webs of the Last 
dark hair-brown; lesser and median upper wing-coverts dusky-brown, like the 
bastard wing and primary-coverts ; outer aspect of flight-quills similar to the 
back; inner-webs dark hair-brown with buff margins; chin black with hair-like 
tips to the feathers ; middle of throat load-grey ; cheeks yellowish-white; upper 
breast slate-grey, becoming smoke-brown on the abdomen, sides of body, flanks, 
and under tail-coverts; middle of lower abdomen whitish; axillaries and under 
wing-coverts buffy-white like the margins of the quills below, remainder of 
quill-lining dark brown with a greyish gloss ; lower aspect of tail similar but paler. 
Eyes hazel, orbits orange, bare skin green, bill orange, feet yellowish-flesh. 
Collected on Brown’s River, Tasmania, on the 27tb of February, 1909. 
Immature male. Top of head, sides of face, fore-head, and a band across the hind-neck 
black; sides of hinder-crown yellowish-white which is continued in a band across 
the hind-neck where it becomes greenish-yellow ; back, scapulars, and outer aspect 
of wings bronze-brown, the grey bases of the feathers on the mantle show thiough 
and impart a greyish tinge ; inner-webs of flight-quills dark brown with buffy- 
white margins ; rump and upper tail-coverts greenish-bronze ; tail bronze-brown , 
cheeks and sides of throat yellowish-white; chin black with hair-like tips to the 
feathers; throat, breast, abdomen, sides of body, thighs, and under tail-coverts 
dull lead-grey with a tinge of yellow on the middle of the abdomen; axillaries, 
under wing-coverts, and margins of the flight-quills below yellowish-buff, remaindei 
of the quill-lining dark brown; lower aspect of tail similar but rather paler. 
Collected at St. Mary’s, Tasmania, on the 6th of September, 1884. 
Eggs. Three eggs usually form the clutch. A clutch of three eggs taken at Montague, 
Tasmania, on the 3rd of October, 1895, is of a pale pinkish-white ground-colour, 
spotted and speckled with dark reddish-brown and purplish-grey, the markings 
being confined chiefly to the larger end of each egg. Rounded ovals in shape, 
surface of shell fine and smooth, but almost devoid of gloss. 21—22 mm. by 16-1/. 
Nest. Is a deep cup-shaped structure, composed of bark, grasses, and wool, and lined with 
the soft portions of grass, etc. Generally suspended from the drooping branches 
of a tree, and well up from the ground. Measurements over all: 4 inches across 
by 3| inches in depth. 
Breeding-months. July to December. 
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