VARIED HONEY-EATER. 
whitish-yellow, under wing-coverts golden-yellow, under-surface of quills ash-brown, 
widely margined on the inner web with rich buff. Bill and eyes black, feet grey. 
Total length 190 mm. ; culmen 16, wing 94, tail 81, tarsus 27. Figured. Collected 
at Cape York, North Queensland, on the 26th of August, 1912. 
Adult male similar to the adult female. 
Eggs. Two eggs usually form the clutch. A clutch of two eggs, taken at Cape York, 
North Queensland, on the 1st of October, 1910, is of a pale pinkish-buff ground¬ 
colour, and possessing an indistinct cap of clouded and very minute spots of pale 
reddish-brown. Long ovals in shape. Surface of shell fine and smooth, and rather 
glossy. Closely resemble the eggs of Mdiphaga virescens. 25-26 by 16-17 mm. 
Nest. A neat and comparatively small cup-shaped structure, composed of dried sea- 
grasses, weeds and dead leaves, and lined with fine roots. Frequently placed in 
the foliage of a Mangrove tree standing in or near salt water. 
Breeding-months. July to end November. 
Gould described this distinct species from one specimen contained in a collection 
from the northern part of Australia, and nothing was known of its habits. 
A. F. Smith only a few years since discovered the nest and eggs on the 
Frankland Islands, lying off the mouth of Russell River, North Queensland, 
and these were described by North. Next year Smith wrote of a second visit: 
“These pretty Honey-eaters, whose eggs I was fortunate in discovering last 
year, were fairly plentiful, considering the small size of the island, and their 
loud, musical call was frequently heard. I saw two pairs feeding their 
young, which were able to fly, but did not find any nests, it being evidently 
too late. The eggs which I found last year on 16th October were only about 
two days from hatching.” 
Banfield has contributed a delightful account to the scant history of this 
bird in his Confessions of a Beachcomber, one of the most notable productions 
in Australian literature, which must be here quoted: “ Once aroused, the 
Varied Honey-eater is wide awake. His restlessness is equalled only by his 
impertinent exclamations. He shouts his own aboriginal title ‘ Go-bidger-oo !’ 
‘ Put on your boots ! ’ ‘ Which-which-which way-which way-which way you 
go! ’ ‘ Get your whip ! ’ ‘ Get your whip ! ’ ‘ You go ! ’ ‘ You go ! ’ 
‘ You go ! ’ ‘ None of your cheek ! ’ ‘ None of your cheek ! ’ ‘ Here-here ! ’ 
And darts out with a fluster from among the hibiscus bushes on the beach away 
up to the top of the melaleuca tree; pauses to sample the honey from the yellow 
flowers of the gin-gee, and down to the scarlet blooms of the flame-tree, across 
the pandanus palms and to the shady creek for his morning bath and drink, 
shouting without ceasing his orders and observations. He is always with us, 
though not always as noisy as in the prime of the year—a cheerful, prying, 
frisky creature, always going somewhere or doing something in a red-hot hurry, 
and always making a song of it—a veritable babbler. His love-making is 
passionate and impulsive, joyous almost to rowdyism.” 
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