SANGUINEOUS HONEY-EATER, 
like sparks of fire moving about. The song is loud for so small a bird and is 
very sweet and at times long sustained.” 
Berney wrote from the Richmond District, North Queensland : “I found 
an individual resting, weak and dazed, on the verandah at Wyangarie, which 
died a couple of hours later, from simple poverty, it seemed. It was an entire 
stranger to me, and must, I think, have been considerably out of its beat. It 
was a young bird.” 
In 1908 Ernest D. Barnard wrote from Kurrajong, Gladstone, Queensland : 
“Blood Honey-eaters (Myzomela sanguineolenta) were very numerous this 
year. They showed a partiality for clumps of scrub, patches of brigalow 
chiefly, dotted about the open country, and did not seem to care for the larger 
scrubs. I have never observed them here before, so their visit was a pleasant 
surprise. Two nests with eggs were seen, both in brigalows.” 
Macgillivray has written: “ At Cairns, on the 17th November, 1909, 
they were numerous in the mangroves.” 
Ramsay in 1875 from the Cardwell district recorded : “ During the 
months of April and May, 1874, this bird was found by no means rare, feeding 
among the blossoms of Lophostemon, Melaleuca, and Eucalyptus in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Cardwell and on the Herbert River. They arrive about Sydney 
during the months of October and November, and, remaining, breed during 
November, December, and as late as January.” 
Campbell and Barnard’s note from the same distiict reads: “ Whether 
for appearance or pleasing song (like the sound produced by a person rubbing 
a damp cork on a window-pane, only not so harsh) these little Honey-eaters 
are gems, and the rich red portion of the uniform brightens the picture 
wherever they fly for nectar, whether on to cylindrical, greenish tea-tree flowers 
or golden bunches of gum blossom, or are ‘ drowned ’ in their own colour in 
the red bottle-brush of Callistemon .” 
Captain S. A. White reported from Stradbroke Island: “ These little 
jewels in bird life were fairly numerous, their bright red plumage drawing 
much attention. They generally keep to the foliage growing on the tops 
of the trees, where they move about very rapidly. They have a remarkably 
loud and shrill call for so small a bird.” 
Le Souef and Macpherson, writing about the Birds of Sydney whence 
this bird was first described, observe: “ The brightest of the Honey-eaters, 
the Sanguineous Honey-eater, arrives from the north in numbers in September, 
and a few take up their quarters in the city parks. The male bird is very 
conspicuous, and whistles constantly, but the female is not so often seen. 
About the middle of the season they become quiet, and this year a small 
flock was seen on its way north again in February.” 
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