WATTLE-CHEEKED HONEY-EATER. 
Adult female similar to the adult male. 
Young female. General colour of the upper-surface olive, tinged with grey on the top 
of the head and slightly tinged with tawny on the back and upper tail-coverts ; 
outer webs of flight-quills greenish-yellow, the inner ones dark brown margined 
with buff ; tail pale brown tinged with greenisli-yellow r on the outer w r ebs ; lores 
blackish ; ear-coverts dark brown ; a pale yellow moustacial-streak which extends 
on to the sides of the neck ; under-surface yellow including the chin, throat, and 
breast, becoming brighter yellow on the abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts ; 
under wing-coverts pale buff ; under-surface of flight-quills hair-brown margined 
with buff ; lower aspect of tail pale yellowish-brown with white shafts. Bill black, 
wattle at gape yellow ; eyes dark brown, feet and legs light brown. Collected on 
the Wongan Hill, West Australia, on the 3rd of October, 1903. 
Eggs. Two eggs usually form the clutch. A clutch of two taken at Kow Plains, North¬ 
west Victoria, on the 30th of September, 1912, is of a very pale pinkish-white, 
spotted and blotched with pale to dark reddish-brown, and forming a broken and 
irregular cap of markings at the larger ends, where they become confluent. Swollen 
ovals in shape. Surface of shell smooth and rather glossy. 21 by 15 mm. 
Nest. A cup-shaped structure, composed chiefly of thin strips of bark, and lined inside 
with grass, etc. ; usually suspended from the branch of a bush or small tree, and 
often within less than five feet of the ground. 
Breeding-months. August to December. 
Gould’s observations on this species which he discovered and described 
read: u I first met with this new species of Honey-eater on the 26th of June, 
1839, on the ranges near the Upper Torrens in South Australia ; it appeared 
to be a most pugnacious bird, driving every other species from the tree upon 
which it was feeding. I afterwards met with it on Kangaroo Island and in 
the Belts of the Murray, In all these situations it evinced a decided preference 
for the Eucalypti , among the smaller branches and flowers of which it was 
busily engaged in extracting pollen and honey from the flower-cups. The 
trees in the Belts of the Murray and on Kangaroo Island are of a dwarf 
character, while those of the Upper Torrens are very lofty ; yet each appeared 
to be equally resorted to.” 
Captain S. A. White has written me : “ Is quite a common bird on 
Kangaroo Island and some parts of Eyre’s Peninsula. Is a very inquisitive 
bird and if one keeps still it will often come quite close, stretching out its 
neck and putting its head on one side peering at the unusual object and giving 
forth a strange scolding note. They were nesting on Eyre s Peninsula in 
October.” 
Mr. J. W. Mellor also writes s “ I found this species in fair numbers on 
Kangaroo Island and also on Eyre and Yorke’s Peninsulas. This bird prefers 
the moderately open mallee and bush country, and in the blackboy 
country where the tall grass-trees grow, the birds, I noted, would fly vO t ese 
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