PAINTED HONEY-EATER. 
Adult female. _ General colour of the upper-surface blackish, including the top of the head, 
lores, sides of face, sides of neck, back, upper tail-coverts, wings, and tail; outer 
webs of greater upper wing-coverts and flight-quills fringed with yellow and 
margined with white at the tips of the latter ; tail-feathers fringed with yellow 
on the outer webs with the greater part of the inner webs on the terminal portion 
white ; feathers on the fore-cheeks minutely tipped with white ; under-surface 
white or greyish-white, including the throat, breast, abdomen, sides of body, under 
tail-coverts, axfflaries, under wing-coverts and inner portion of flight-quills below ; 
remainder of quill-lining blackish like the lower aspect of the tail at the base, the 
terminal portion of the latter for the most part white ; thighs and marginal under 
wing-coverts more or less marked with black. Bill yellowish with tip black, 
feet grey, eyes reddish-browm. Total length 150 mm. ; culrnen 13, wing 87, tail 52, 
tarsus 19. Figured. Collected on the MacArthur River, Northern Territory, 
on the 18th of August, 1913, and is G. p. borealis White. 
Eggs. Two eggs usually form the clutch. A pair taken near Bathurst, on the Macquarie 
River, New South Wales, on the 23rd of December, 1899, is of a pale salmon-red, 
which is well spotted and speckled with reddish-brown and lilac, the markings 
becoming very massed at the larger end of each egg. Ovals in shape, surface of 
shell fine, and slightly glossy. 19 by 14 mm. 
Another clutch of two eggs taken near Sydney, New' South Wales, on the 7th of 
February, 1901, is of a much paler ground-colour, and measure 20 by 14-13 mm. 
Nestis a rather frail cup-shaped hanging structure, suspended and secured to the needle- 
shaped leaves of the oak ( Casuarina ), and usually situated at the end of a 
drooping limb. Nest composed entirely of fine fibrous roots, matted and bound 
together with cobwebs, etc. The nest is transparent, and the eggs can be seen in it 
from the ground. Dimensions over all: 2-| inches by 2 inches deep, and inside 
2 inches by If inches deep. Nest placed up to 30 feet and more from the ground. 
Breeding-months. October to February. 
Gould described this bird as a new genus and species before he went to 
Australia and later wrote : “ This beautiful little Honey-eater is an inhabitant 
of the interior of New South Wales, where it frequents the myalls ( Acacia 
pendula) and other trees bordering the extensive plains of that part of 
Australia. On a comparison of skins of this species with those of the other 
Meliphagidce, prior to my visit to the country, I had been led to suspect that 
its actions and economy would be found to differ materially from those of the 
other members of its family, and such proved to be the case, for it is much 
more active among the branches, captures insects on the wing, and darts 
forth and returns to the same spot much after the manner of the Flycatchers. 
Its song is a low but not very harmonious strain, which is frequently uttered 
when on the wing. During flight it repeatedly spreads its tail, when the 
white portion of the feathers shows very conspicuously; the yellow colouring 
of the wing also contributes to the beauty of its appearance.” 
A long note by Mr. Thos. P. Austin of Cobbora, New South Wales, is 
here given : “I have no hesitation in saying that this is the most extraordinary 
little bird I have ever come in contact with, they differ in most of their habits 
VOL. XI. 
377 
