THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Adult male. Top of head including the fore-head, lores and nape black like the sides of face, 
sides of neck, chin, throat and sides of breast; hind-neck, back, scapulars and upper 
tail-coverts yellowish-green ; upper wing-coverts dusky bronze-brown ; flight-quiUs 
dark brown with olive on the outer margins and white on the inner ones ; tail bronze- 
brown ; fore-neck and sides of neck white becoming greyish-white on the breast, 
abdomen and sides of the body ; vent white, thighs cinnamon-brown; under tail- 
coverts pale grey ; axillaries pale grey, under wing-coverts and inner margins of 
q uills below white, remainder of quill lining dark brown ; lower aspect of tail similar 
but rather paler. Bill black, feet flesh. Total length 155 mm.; culmen 11, wing 
81, tail 65, tarsus 19. Figured. Collected on King Island, Bass Straits, on the 
11th of November, 1902, and is the type of M. a. alisteri. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Young male. Head sooty-brown becoming more rufous-brown on the hind-neck and 
mantle; the wings, back, and upper tail-coverts tinged with yellowish-green and 
paler tips to some of the feathers ; bastard-wing dark brown or blackish ; primary 
and secondary quills dark brown, the outer ones edged with whitish, outer webs of 
inner secondaries fringed with yellowish-green ; tail dark brown fringed, more or 
less, with yellowish-green on the outer webs ; lores, a line over the eye, ear-coveris, 
cheeks, and chin black; throat, breast, abdomen, sides of body, and under tail- 
coverts pale yellow ; under wing-coverts and inner webs of the quills below white. 
Collected on King Island. 
Eggs. Two to three eggs form the clutch. A clutch of three eggs taken at Austin’s Ferry, 
Tasmania, on 7tli October, 1909, is of a pale flesh-tint ground-colour, minutely 
spotted and speckled with reddish-brown and dull purplish-grey, which are chiefly 
confined to the larger end of each egg. Swollen ovals in Bhape, surface of shell 
rather fine and smooth, hut almost devoid of gloss. 19 mm. by 14. 
Nest. A rather deep cup-shaped structure, composed of strips of bark, much wool and 
cobwebs, and warmly lined with hair, fur and feathers. It is generally suspended 
among the smaller twigs at the end of a drooping branch of a Eucalyptus tree, and 
frequently very high up from the ground; and usually in a most difficult position 
for a person to get at. Dimensions over all : 3 inches across by 4 inches deep, 
and the egg-cavity 2 inches across by nearly 2 inches deep. 
Breeding-months. October to end December. 
Although Gould was not the first to characterise this species, his field- 
notes are the first to be recorded, and I here quote them : “ This bird I believe 
to be peculiar to Tasmania, over the whole of which island it is very abundant. 
The Eucalypti are the trees for which it evinces a preference, and it may 
constantly be seen among their foliage and flowers searchbig for its food, winch, 
like that of the other members of the Melipliagidce, consists principally of 
insects, particularly small coleoptera ; like the other species of the family also, 
it creeps and clings about the branches after the manner of toe Tits of Europe. 
It is a lively, animated bird, and generally goes in companies of from ten to 
twenty in number, according as the supply of food may be more or less 
plentiful. During the fruit season it frequents the gardens of the settlers 
and commits considerable havoc among the fruit, of which it is exceedingly 
fond.” 
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