WHITE-BEARDED HONEY-EATER. 
the coast they wei’e in great numbers. Their vivacious, restless movements, 
combined with their pugnacity towards other bhds, and their querulous 
voices impart much life to the landscape. I saw one nest which contained 
two chocolate-haired young ones. I saw very many full-fledged young ones 
when pushing tlrrough the thiekets,” and later recorded it as “ Common in 
flowering thickets ” in the Stirhng Ranges. 
Hill, wilting from Guildford, West Australia, observed: “ Common 
whei'ever the adenanthos grows ; have seen it nowliere else ; shy at all times. 
When nesting it may be observed without much chfficulty, as it remains close 
by the nest, though it shows gi’eat agitation if this is approached ; at other 
times it is hard to get even a glimpse of the bud.” 
Gibson, in Ins Ust of birds observed between Kalgoorhe and Eucla, wrote : 
“ Fairly common, except in the salmon-barked gum country and on the plains ; 
very common amongst the coastal sandhills.” 
Captain S. A. White, after his visit to Western Austraha, wrote regarding 
the Margaret River district: “ A plentiful bud, especially along the coast 
line. The writer is doubtful of this being a good species, for many birds in 
South Australia have just as long a bill.” 
Whitlock from the Stirhng Ranges recorded: “In the ranges proper 
M. longirostris was rare and I only obtamed one nest. As usual this was 
near water. In the swamps of the lower lands, I, however, found the species 
more plentiful.” 
From the Perth district Alexander has noted: “ Resident. Common, 
especially amongst the bushes on the coastal hiUs.” 
Orton and Sandland in their buds of Moora include this species as: 
“ Common round tea-tree swamps further west,” and as Moore is 108 miles 
northwards from Perth this may be the northern hmit. 
Gould described the Western form as a distmct species, explaining: 
“ Although the Meliornis longirostris and M. novcehollandice are very similar, 
they will on comparison prove to be specifically distmct; they are, in fact, 
beautiful representatives of each other on the opposite sides of the great 
Austrahan continent, the M. longirostris inhabiting the western, and the 
M. novcehollandice being spread over the eastern portion of the country, and 
it would be a matter of some interest to know at Avhat degree of longitude 
the two species inosculate. Several points of difference are found to exist 
in the two species, the most material of which are hi the shape and length of 
the bill, and in the size of the wliite mark on the fore-part of the cheeks ; the 
M. longirostris, as its name implies, has the bill much more lengthened and 
comparatively stouter than that of its near ally, and it moreover has the white 
patch on the face much less defined and blended to a greater extent with the 
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