104 
THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA 
A T otes. —Also called Red-throated Honey-eater; usually in flocks, fre¬ 
quenting the flowering trees and shrubs, and also the long grasses, seeking 
insects and nectar. It often catches insects on the wing in the same man¬ 
ner as the Flycatchers. 
Nest. —A small, cup-shaped structure, composed of soft pieces of 
bark, grass, and spiders’ cocoons, woven together with cobwebs; lined with 
stiff stems of grass to keep it in shape. Usually suspended from a pen¬ 
dent branch of a tree up to 20 feet from the ground. 
Eggs. —Two or three, white, spotted and speckled with dark reddish- 
brown or chestnut and slate-grey markings, chiefly at the larger end. 
Breeding-season: October to February or March. 
13. Grey Honey-eater Lacustroicg whitei North 
Lac-us-troic -a —L., lacus, lake; Gk, oicos, home : whitei —Alfred White, 
son of H. L. White, Belltrees, Scone, New South Wales. 
Distribution. —From Murchison (mid-western Australia) to the Mac- 
donnell Range (central Australia). 
Notes. —Also called Inconspicuous Honey-eater. Usually in pairs, 
frequenting tracts of country where large mulga and other bushes grow! 
Its call-notes have been described as a succession of five or six monotones, 
high-pitched but musical, and uttered in a rapid, sibilant manner. Food: 
insects, procured in the foliage. 
Nest. —A frail structure of horse-hair, loosely woven and held to¬ 
gether with spiders’ webs and cocoons, and placed near the extremitv of a 
slender branch about 7 feet from the ground. 
Eggs. Two, white, moderately marked with small, rich, reddish- 
brown spots mixed with some underlying markings of dull purplish-grey at 
the larger end. Breeding-season: probably August to November. 
14. Eastern Spinebill Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris Latham 
nth-o-rhyneh'-us—Gk, a cant ha, spine, thorn; Gk, rhynchos, beak: 
ten-u-i-ros -tns —L., tenuis, slender; L., rostrum , bill. 
l,nrlr e L Australia ’ from Cairns (northern Oueens- 
B?ss Strait th AuStraha ’ Kangaroo Island, Tasmania, and the islands of 
Cobbter^ALw°T • S P ine - bi ] led Honey-eater, Humming-bird, and 
and onen w' * UsUa11 ^ m P airs < frequenting alike scrub and heath-lands 
ceDtS'S T!! 0 ' l- !t 1S n SO a familiar Wrd in gardens and is ex- 
its P loS IS r’, fl: ‘ kT T r0m n° Wer t0 flower ’ Probing each bloom with 
a l iS , a SUCcession of shrill, musical notes; 
insects^nd necta? ’ ^ *** a P eculiar da PP in S ~und. Food: 
-rass(Z"lL A ^? thGr d TP’,. oop-shaped structure, composed of bark, 
suspended frorn^’ tbf^ , W1 c th fine & r ass and feathers. Usually 
20 feet or more from "the ground.’ ^ brandl ° f & thick bUSh Up t0 
