SPINEBILL. 
They often move out of the Mount Lofty Ranges in the autumn and go out 
upon the plains. Their flight is swift and erratic at times, their note shrill 
and loud for so small a bird. In South Australia the nesting season is from 
September to November. Eood consists of honey and insects ; they will 
take the latter from the flowers and off the foliage and will also catch insects 
upon the wing. The nest is cup-shaped, constructed with bark and grass 
neatly lined, placed in a thick bush. They frequent the gardens and are often 
seen hovering in front of a blossom after the manner of the humming birds. 
The Kangaroo Island form is very plentiful and found all over the island, and 
its habits seem the same as those of the mainland bird. The Tasmanian 
form is also plentiful and I found them all over that state both in the settlers’ 
gardens and in the thick scrub.” 
Mr. J. W. Mellor’s notes read: “The Spinebill is truly a pretty little Honey- 
eater and very animated in all its habits, being exceedingly energetic in sucking 
the nectar from the flower and I believe lives more on this than upon insect 
life. I have noted them very often on my place Glenburne at Mount Lofty, 
in the thickly wooded parts, where they flit about, and are especially fond 
of the honey from the small flowers of the tree fuchsia, thrusting their long 
curved needle-like bills up the tubes of these hanging flowers and sucking 
the honey out in a few moments, clinging the while by their slender little feet 
to some leaf or twig in close proximity to the bunch of flowers. They also 
like to suck the flowers of the native heath, as these are like small tubes, and 
only such slender billed birds, as this species, could extract the honey. I 
have sometimes seen stray individuals at the Reedbeds, and also even in the 
gardens in the City of Adelaide and the surrounding suburbs, but the real 
habitat seems to be the rough and rugged hills where the foliage is thick and 
the flowers are in abundance. The call of the Spinebill is a pleasing musical 
note, like the silvery tinkling of a small bell, ting, ting, ting, uttered both 
while in flight and -when perched in the foliage. The Tasmanian form I have 
seen in a host of localities in that country during several visits. The buds 
revel in the deep gullies -where there is a wealth of nature, the bell-like notes 
being exceptionally pleasing as it flits about in its characteristic way, the 
short silvery notes seeming to ring out with unusually musical tones. I have 
also seen the Kangaroo Island form in fair numbers in its home, as it is 
universally distributed over the large area of that island. They love the 
thickly timbered parts where the larger eucalypts grow and where thick 
undergrowth with a plentiful supply of flowers exist from which to secure 
their honey food, for although they feed on insect life to a certain extent, their 
chief food is honey, and this can be obtained in these sunny climes even in the 
depth of winter, although at this time of year it is not so plentiful as in the 
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