THE BIRDS OE AUSTRALIA. 
Eggs. One to three eggs form the clutch, rarely three. A clutch of two eggs taken 
at St. Kilda, near Melbourne, on the 8th of November, 1894, is of a beautiful 
pinkish-buff ground-colour, spotted, chiefly at the larger end, with reddish-brown 
and purplish-grey. Swollen ovals in shape. Smface of shell fine, smooth, and 
rather glossy. 27-28 by 20-21 mm. 
Breeding-months. August to December. 
Another prominent species which was given two names by Latham when 
he examined the Lambert dramngs, naming it fii-st as the Golden-winged 
Bee-eater and giving a note : “ Inhabits New South Wales ; feeds chiefly on 
flies and other insects, as weU as by sucking honey from the various kinds of 
Banksia, etc. The natives name it Goo-gwar-ruck.” Then as the Mellivorous 
Creeper with the note : “ Inhabits New South Wales, and is called Goo-gwar- 
ruck ; is a numerous species, seldom seen but near the seashore, especially 
about where the natives resort; is a lively bird, constantly hi action, in 
sucking honey, taking flies, or contending with other birds; two or three of 
these "will often rout a flock of Blue-bellied Parrots, with which genus they are 
often engaged. For the above information I am mdebted to Mr. Lambert.” 
Li the “ Wathng ” draivings, which apparently were examined later than 
the Lambert series, also prefaced by Wathng, the above notes are given in 
coimection ivith No. 90, wMe attached to No. 89 is a note: “ One-half the 
natural size. Called by our Enghsh people Querrick from its note. Native 
name Wad-de-ar-gal.” This plate 89 was identified by Sharpe as representing 
the Golden-winged Bee-eater, and in comiection ivith it he wTote {Hist. Coll Nat. 
Hist. Brit. 3Ius., Vol. II., 1906), p. 125: “The oldest name for A. mellivora 
{Acanthochoera mellivora (Lath.) Gadow, Cat. B., IX., p. 264) appears to be 
A. chrysoptera (Lath.), both being founded on Watling’s drawings.” 
No. 104 was named Melhvorous Creeper and the only note given ui 
connection with it by Wathng reads : “ Native name Goo-givar-ruck.” 
When Vigors and Horsfield dealt with Austrahan birds in the collection 
of the Linnean Society of London they introduced a genus Anihochcera and 
included A. mellivora, the Certhia mellivora of Latham, quoting Caley’s note 
that “ he c^Ued this bird Cookaycock, from its uttering a soimd hke that Word. 
The natives eah it Coke'ran. It now and then may be seen in the scrubs about 
Paramatta, ahvays on trees ; but it is common m the neighbourhood of 
Sydney. It is what I should call an inhabitant of the coast. I have met ivitli 
it at Western Port.” 
Gould wrote: “ This bird is a native of Tasmania, New South Wales, 
and South Austraha; and in aU these countries may be foimd in suck 
situations as are favom'able to the growth of Leptospermums. In the former 
country it is especially abundant on the banks of the Tamar, and in the belts 
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