THE BIRDS OE AUSTRALIA 7 
Whitlock recorded from the East Murchison district: “ Very common 
at Bore Well and around Wiluna and Lake Violet. I found a number of their 
neatly constructed nests. They were always placed low down.” 
Orton and Sandland observed : “ Visits here (Moora, West Australia) 
in large numbers during March and April, in odd years, to feed on the white 
gum blossoms.” 
Bemey has written “ I have only come across this Honey-eater once_ 
11th July, 1904—and then I obtained a male among the tea-tree along the 
Flinders River (Queensland). Dissection, I am sorry to say, proved that it 
must have had a sitting mate close by. It has a cheerful song.” 
Wilson wrote regarding the Victorian Mallee : “ Seen in great numbers 
in the Kow Plains district, where many nests containing eggs and young were 
found. They nested freely in the turpentine bushes, but the most favoured site 
was on the top or a porcupine-grass tussock. In the latter case there was always 
a small sapling close to the nest upon which they alighted before going to the 
nest.” 
Chandler’s notes from same place differ : “ Very common. The favourite 
situation for the nest of this songster is among the dead growth at the foot 
of a clump of dwarf mallee. Nests were also found in the porcupine grass 
and in turpentine bushes.” 
Captain S. A. White, from the South Australian Mallee adjoining, reported: 
Numbers of these birds were found in the low scrub between Lake Bonney 
and the river. They were attracted by the flowering shrub known as the 
wild or native fuchsia {Correa speciosa). Many fully fledged young birds 
vere with their parents. I noticed the latter jumping about on the ground 
in search of insect food. One’s attention is attracted by this bird’s zigzag 
flight.” 66 
Macgillivray, writing of the region of the Barrier Range, New South 
Wales, noted: “ White-fronted Honey-eaters were heard in a thicker clump 
oi neelia and black oak on the creek. A nest was foimd, built in the top of a 
broken stump, two feet from the ground, and contained one young bird, fully 
feathered. Many other pairs were watched, but no more nests were found. 
We had expected to find it in fair numbers this year, but were disappointed. 
his species feeds on insects and honey — at this time mainly the honey from 
the mistletoe. The nest, constructed of wool and fibrous herbs, is usually 
placed in a fork of a low bush, the turpentine bush being most often 
favoured. We have found nests, however, in all manner of situations—at 
the tops of high or low stumps, in the thick fork of a neelia, or in a bunch of 
mistletoe. . . I have not known the species to lay more than two eggs 
at a sitting.” 
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