THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
the southern portion of the island. It evinces a more decided preference for 
shrubs and low trees than for those of a larger growth; consequently it is 
a species particularly subject to the notice of man ; nor is it the least attractive 
of the Australian avifauna ; the strikingly-contrasted markings of its plumage, 
and the beautiful appearance of its golden-edged wings, when passing with 
its quick jumping flight from shrub to shrub, rendering it a most conspicuous 
and pleasing object. It has a loud, slniU, hquid, tliougli monotonous note. 
Its food, which consists of the pollen and juices of flowers, is procured while 
clinging and creeping among them in every variety of position; it also feeds 
on fruits and insects. It usually rears two or three broods during the course 
of the season, which lasts from August to January.” 
Captain S. A. White has -written me : “ This bird is well named as the 
New Holland Honey-eater for it is found over the greater part of the Australian 
coastal belt. I see little variation in the Queensland, New South Wales, 
Victorian, South Australian or Kangaroo Island specimens, and the long 
biU of the West Australian form is doubtful, for some of the South Austrahan 
bu’ds have just as long bills. Specimens collected by me in Queensland seem 
to be consistently slightly smaller and the bill is smaller and finer (more 
slender) but coloration the same. Tliis is one of om' best loiowii species of 
birds for it is found almost everywhere along om’ coastal belt and in places 
very numerously. They prefer locahties with dense undergTo^vth but they 
are often found in open timbered countrj^ Food chiefly consists of insect 
life, but they are fond of honey and wdien the gums are in blossom ^vill be seen 
moving about amongst the floAver-heads. They become very confiding and 
AviU take up their abode in the settlers’ gardens and are to be seen searching 
the flowers within a few’ feet of one for honey and insects; if the blossom be 
a deep one, too much so for their bills to reach the bottom, they pierce it 
from the outside near the bottom and thus reach the food within. Their 
note is a sharp squeaking one and very shriU at times ; the alarm note a gi’eat 
chattering somid. They are one of the earliest and the latest breeders, in 
fact, in some loeahties they are nesting all through the year. I liave found 
their nests with young here on the Adelaide plains in July and the same in 
January. They are very’ fond of catching much of their food in mid air, it 
being a common sight to see these bkds hawking for an horn’ or more upon 
the summer evenings. Their flight is swift and at times erratic. If the 
parent birds are flushed from the nest containing eggs they slip aAvay quietly 
and almost unobserved, but if there be young in the nest thej^ will attack 
anything, snapping theii’ bills and maldng a great chattering. They are very 
jmgnacious in the breeding-season and will attack all birds, large or small, 
that come near the nest. The nest is a cup-shaped structure built in the 
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