THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
flowering Eucalypti of the more open parts, where forty or fifty individuals 
may be frequently seen on a single tree, even in the vicinity of Hobart Town 
and the islands of South Arm and Bruoi. The neighbourhood of the Macquarrie 
Plains is also a locality particularly f avomable to it; from this district hundreds 
are annually sent to the markets of Hobart Town for the purposes of the table. 
It is liiglily prized as an article of food, and in winter becomes excessively fat, 
the entire body and neck, both internally and externally, being completely 
enveloped. This bird feeds almost exclusively on honey and the pollen of 
the Eucalypti, the only other food detected in its very diminutive stomach 
bemg the remains of coleopterous insects. Its whole structure is admirably 
adapted for procuring this kind of food ; its long tongue, -with its brush-hke 
tip, being protruded into the honey-cups of the newly opened flowers, a succession 
of which appears with every rising sun throughout the year, upon one or other 
of the numerous species of Eucalypti. The same restless disposition seems 
to be common to aU the tribe of Honey-eaters, and this bird is as active and 
quick in its movements as the smallest of the genus, hanguig and clinging to 
the branches in every possible variety of position; and when thirty or forty 
are seen on a single tree, they present a very animated appearance. Its flight, 
which seldom extends farther than from tree to tree, is very similar to that 
of the Magpie of Em’ope. Its note is a harsh and disagreeable scream, 
resembling in loudness and somewhat in tone the call of the Pheasant. Both 
sexes have the wattled appendages beneath the ear, but they are less developed 
in the female, which, moreover, is smaller than the male.” 
Mr. Frank Littler has written me: “ This species is universally, but unevenly, 
distributed throughout Tasmania and is among the most highly esteemed of 
our game birds. By an Act of December 30th, 1901, it was afforded absolute 
protection for two years owing to the great slaughter dming the shooting 
seasons previously, which lasted from May 24th to July 30th inclusive. Breeding- 
months, August to December. During the season in which flowering eucalypts 
are plentiful the bird becomes very fat and weighs over six oimces. During the 
winter its food consists of rich nectar from eucalypt blossoms and honeysuckle 
cones. In summer, as the honeysuckle alone are in flower, insects, especially 
beetles, are added to its diet. In some districts the eucalypts blossom one year 
and in other districts the next, consequently the bii’ds move from one district 
to another. In the summer it resorts to the mountam slopes, returning to the 
plains as winter approaches ; the harder the winter the more plentiful the 
bird is expected to be, as the thickly wooded plains are warmer than the 
mountain slopes. It soon becomes very wild after being shot at and is difficult 
to approach, giving the alarm and taking flight at the shghtest sign of danger. 
It moves in flocks which greatly vary in number. At the first glimmer of 
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