THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
except just under the lower mandible, where they are of a deep lead colour 
for about 1 | inches running down the breast. It has only one shrill whistling 
note, which it is constantly repeating. It hops like a Magpie, has a feathered 
tongue, catches flies and insects of every kind, on which it principally lives, 
and I am rather inclined to think sometimes kills and eats small birds, from 
its attacking a Warbler I one day put into the cage, where I kept it for some 
time after being wounded. This bird is very rare, and the only one seen.” 
Caley’s notes read: “ This bird is called Bati-Tcin by the natives. 
Whether it is migratory or not it would be hazardous for me to say, as I have 
only seen it occasionally, although in different places. I once observed 
severed of them frequenting a tree, where they were busy in obtaining some¬ 
thing that appeared to have exuded from a -wounded part. I do not know 
what the substance could be, otherwise than a kind of gum of a bitter and 
astringent taste.” 
Gould’s notes are as follows : “ Tins attractive and beautiful Honey-eater, 
one of the finest of the MelipJtagidce, is strictly indigenous to New South Wales, 
where it is abundant and very generally dispersed; I observed it in nearly 
every part of the colony I visited, both in winter and summer. I also shot 
a single specimen on the Namoi, but as this was almost the only one I saw 
beyond the mountain ranges, I believe its most natural habitat to be the 
great dividing chain of mountains and the sea. In all probability it may be 
found far to the northward on the eastern coast, but it has not yet been 
observed in South Australia, neither is it an inhabitant of Tasmania. In 
habits and actions the Blue-faced Honey-eater bears a striking resemblance 
to the members of the genera Ptilotis and Melithrcplus ; like them, it is found 
almost exclusively on the Eucalypti, searching among the blossoms and smaller 
leafy branches for its food, which is of a mixed character, consisting partly 
of insects and partly of honey, and probably berries and fruits, but this latter 
supposition I was not able to verify. I have frequently seen eight or ten of 
these bold and spirited birds on a single tree, displaying the most elegant 
and easy movements, clinging and hanging in every variety^ of position, 
frequently at the extreme ends of the small, thickly-flowered branches, 
bending them down with their weight; they may be easily distinguished from 
other birds with which they are frequently in company by their superior size, 
the brilliancy of their blue face, and the contrasted colours of their plumage; 
they are rendered equally conspicuous by the pugnacity with which they 
chase and drive about the other species resorting to the same tree. It 
frequently utters a rather loud and monotonous cry, not worthy the name of 
a song. I observed a most curious fact respecting the nidification of this 
bird: in every instance that I found its eggs they were deposited on the 
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