SINGING HONEY-EATER. 
bufiv-white margins ; tail-feathers also hair-brown with yellowish-green margins ; 
a narrow streak below the eye and ear-coverts lemon-yellow; chin, throat, and 
fore-neck greyish-white; breast, abdomen, sides of body, thighs, and under tail- 
coverts pale buff tinged more or less on the abdomen with silvery-white ; axillaries, 
under wing-coverts, and inner-margins of quills below buff ; remainder of quill¬ 
lining liajr-brown ; lower aspect of tail similar to its upper-surface. Eyes bluish, 
feet slaty-grey, bill black. Collected at Carsuinia, Everard Ranges, Central 
Australia, on the 13th of August, 1914. 
Immature. Top of head and nape mouse-brown tinged with grey ; back, rump, upper 
tail-coverts, scapulars, and some of the lesser upper wing-coverts, ochreous-brown, 
outer aspect of wings yellowish-green ; inner webs of flight-quills dark brown with 
buffy-white margins on the basal portions ; tail-feathers dark brown tinged with 
green; lores, eyelids, feathers behind the eye, and sides of crown black ; a narrow 
line below the eye and ear-coverts lemon-yellow inclining to white at the tips of 
the last; chin and throat greyish-white ; breast, abdomen, sides of body, thighs, 
and under tail-coverts dusky-grey ; under wing-coverts and inner margins of flight- 
quills below bufE, remainder of quill-lining pale brown; lower aspect of tail similar 
to its upper-surface. Collected at Fountain Head, Northern Territory (?), on the 
2nd of April, 1895. 
Eggs. Two to three eggs form the clutch, and they vary very, much both in size and shape. 
A clutch of three eggs, taken at the upper Irwin River, Western Australia, on the 
27th of October, 1907, is of a pale pinkish-buff ground-colour, with a few very 
minute brownish specks scattered about on the larger ends. Ovals in shape, 
surface of shell smooth and glossy. 23 by 16 mm. The eggs closely resemble 
those laid by the Pallid Cuckoo. 
Nest. Rather a well-constructed cup-shaped structure suspended from the small branches 
of a bush or small tree. Composed of grasses, strips of bark, etc., and lined with 
fur, wool, or other soft material. Measurements over all: 3 to nearly 4 inches, 
by about 3 inches deep. Inside egg cavity, 2 to 2J inches across by nearly 7 2 inches 
deep. The nests are often smaller than the one here described. 
Cup-shaped and suspended by the rims from a fork. Composed of fine grass stems 
interwoven with spiders’ web, lined at the bottom with wool. Inside measurements, 
2| inches by 1}. Collected at Bala Station, Morgan, South Australia. 
Breeding-months. Usually August to end December. (May to August or after rains.) 
Although this species had been described before Gould named it, as I 
shall explain later, in dealing with the technical history, Gould’s field-notes 
are the earliest published, thus : “I have abundant evidence that the range 
of this species extends across the entire continent of Australia from east to 
west; I found it very numerous on the Namoi and other portions of the 
interior of New South Wales, and equally plentiful in South Australia ; it 
is one of the commonest birds of the colony of Swan River, and we know 
that it extends very far north, for examples were procured by Gilbert during 
Dr. Leichardt’s expedition from Moreton Bay to Port Essington. Moderately 
sized trees, particularly Casuarince and BanTcsia, thinly scattered over grassy 
plains and the crowns and sides of low hills, are its usual places of resort. 
In Western Australia it enters the gardens and commits considerable havoc 
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