THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
with the other markings, but only at the larger ends of the eggs. Markings 
confined chiefly to the larger ends. 17 mm. by 12. 
Nest. A frail structure of horsehair, loosely woven and held together by spiders' webs 
and cocoons, and placed near the extremity of a slender branch about seven feet from 
the ground. 2 to 2f inches by 1 deep. Collected at Lake Way, East Murchison, 
Western Australia, on the 15th of August, 1909. 
Breeding-season. Probably August to November. 
This small genus and species was named by A. J. North from specimens 
collected by Whitlock, whose complete account I transcribe : “ T his little 
bird has only recently been described as new by Mr. A. J. North, from a series 
of skins I secured near Wiluna and Milly Pool. It is sufficiently distinct to 
require a new genus for its reception. It is described as belonging to the 
Honey-eaters. If this is the case, then as a field naturalist I should place 
it next to Zosterops, to which it has a superficial resemblance, and also some 
similarity in general behaviour and in its notes. In possessing a dark bar 
near the tip of the tail, and in certain other features, it shows a divergence. 
At Lake Austin, in 1903, I shot a pair of small birds I could not identify. 
Speaking from memory I think they were identical with the present species. 
They were sent down to the Perth Museum with other skins, but I never 
learned to what species they had been referred. This little Honey-eater 
is confined to tracts of country where large mulga and other tree-like bushes 
are growing. It does not seem to favour eucalypts, but I have seen it amongst 
flowering acacias. It is a very difficult bird to pick out from a party of 
Acanthizce, busy, like itself, in searching the foliage for insect prey. It looks 
slightly larger than the three local species of Tits, but in its attitudes and 
its perpetual motion there is absolutely nothing to distinguish it from these 
commoner birds. The notes are altogether the best guide. They are rather 
difficult to describe on paper. They may, perhaps, be described as a 
succession of five or six monotones, high pitched but musical, and uttered 
in a rapid, sibilant manner. Each bar is repeated several times, to be 
followed by an interval before the next cadence is commenced. Certain other 
notes resemble those of Anthus australis when engaged in a love flight, but 
the volume of sound produced is much less and the tone shriller. Others 
again, resemble those of the Carter Desert Bird, which in their turn somewhat 
resemble the before-mentioned notes of Anthus. In the generally liigh- 
pitched voice, and to a lesser degree the manner of utterance, I -was reminded 
of the notes of Zosterops lutea and Z. gmddi. After shooting a male soon 
after my arrival in Wiluna, I came across a pair on 23rd July, which I resolved 
to watch. They were witlun easy distance of the main street of Wiluna, 
and my chances of securing nest and eggs were not enhanced thereby. 
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