222 
CHISHOLM, Yeppdon-By field Excursion [ Th f Jf mu 
most of the virgin scrub has been cleared to make way for banana 
farms. Such patches of thick vegetation as remain are rather 
small for true scrub birds; accordingly, we turned from these 
and went along a road that runs north between the hills and the 
coast. It was beside this road and in the scrub that clings to the 
sand between the highway and the ocean that some of the south¬ 
ern visitors got their first glimpse of certain northern birds. 
How rich and strange was that glimpse in the case of such a 
little gem as the Sun-Bird! Although this sprite, with the sun¬ 
flower breast and deep-blue throat, had been considered pre¬ 
viously to be a purely northern species, visitors were prepared 
for it through the agency of a useful list compiled by Mr. Alex¬ 
ander; he had visited Yeppoon a few months before, and had 
been surprised to meet quite a number of Sun-Birds. This time 
they were not so noticeable, but the sweet, Goldfinch-like call 
could be readily detected by those who knew the species, and 
occasionally one or two of the little beauties were seen about 
clearings on the edge of the scrub. Personally, I have never 
seen this charming bird to better advantage than was the case 
in a patch of mangroves beside a banana farm near Yeppoon. A 
pair appeared to be seeking a nesting-site, and the radiant little 
lord was a bundle of colorful energy as he perched, proudly 
erect, on a dingy tree, chattering electrically as the tropic sun 
burnished his breast and throat; while his businesslike mate, 
equally graceful if less gaudy, searched quickly for a suitable 
situation. Sun-Birds frequently suspend their pendulous cradles 
beneath verandahs in North Queensland, and it was not surpris¬ 
ing to find the same practice reported at Yeppoon. 
Another small nectar-lover new to most of the party was the 
graceful Myzomela obscura, the Dusky Honeyeater.* A bright 
chattering song coming from a flowering Eugenia was the first 
indication of these birds in numbers; after that we saw an abun¬ 
dance of them. Indeed, none of us had ever seen the species so 
common as this in any part of Queensland. A third bird in 
which the grace of Australia's small honey-birds was well exem¬ 
plified was the mangrove-loving Stigmatops indistincta (ocularis), 
a bird much more entitled to the title of Singing Honeyeater than 
the one that now bears the name. These three, with the un¬ 
deniable Yellow-eared (Levvin) Honeyeater — a bird with a 
penchant for bobbing up anywhere on the East Australian coast, 
and particularly when you are trying to call up something shy! — 
were the only nectar-birds in that coastal belt. 
*In the account of birds met with during the previous meeting in 
Queensland this species was incorrectly recorded from Stradbroke 
Island, Moreton Bay (Emu, XIX., p. 225). Mr. Mathews has unfor¬ 
tunately copied the record without comment in his Birds of Australia, 
vol. XT., p. 332. That the bird intended was Stigmatops indistincta 
is certain. See the reference to this species by A. S. Le Souef 
(Emu, XX., p. 144). — Editor. 
