So 
X THE GEELONG NATURALIST. 
nest is almost always placed pretty low down in the ti-tree, and 
one has no difficulty in finding it, as the cock makes a most 
fearful fuss when one approaches the nest, and is even plucky 
enough to show fight. ‘he clutch is as a rule three, although 
I have occasionally met with four. Hggs are dark flesh pink, 
spotted darker on thick end. 
Every colonist knows the Wattle Bird and the Leather Head, 
and how on a still summer morning these two birds seem to vie 
with one another in making the mostnoise. In fact the amount 
of fuss that a couple of pairs of healthy Leather Heads can 
make before breakfast is astounding, They chatter and talk in 
accents almost human. I have heard a Leather Head talk for 
all the world like an old woman with a cracked voice. This 
curious note and the still more curious bald head and neck, has 
earned for the bird a great number of names, among others, 
“ Friar Bird," * Monk," * Four o'Olock," * Come out of that," 
etc. At breeding time it becomes fierce, and attacks hawks and 
magpies most fearlessly. 
The Wattle Bird or Wattled Honey-Hater is very common, 
almost all over Victoria, and can sometimes be counted by the 
dozen in\the honeysuckle trees on the coast. The bird is showy, 
and at times bold and pugnacious ; its nest is composed rather 
loosely of dried sticks without any lining, in fact one can fre- 
quently see the eggs through the bottom of the nest. The eggs 
are two or three in number. I am sorry to say that this is one 
of the birds that holiday-seekers seem to slaughter, atid it is 
already become comparatively rare close to Melbourne. 
The family is such a big one, that I can but mention one or 
two species. It contains many most beautiful and strikingly 
marked birds, many of them fairly plentiful around Geelong, 
among others the Graceful and Lanceolate Honey-Haters, both 
very handsome birds. 
We cannot, however, take leave of this family without men- 
tioning the Spine Bill or Acanthorhynchus "lenuirostris, as 
scientists have christened him. The wonder is how such a 
delicately-formed little fellow can bear the name and live, and 
yet he does live, and that most lustily. The striking feature of 
the bird is, as the name implies, the long spine like bill, most 
admirably adapted for the search of honey in deep tubular 
flowers. The bird is very restless, never flying far, but darting 
here and there in a curious zigzag fashion, This bird is the 
nearest example we have among our Australian birds to the 
Humming Bird of America. Its nest is small and cup-shaped, 
neatly made, and usually in some low bush, well hidden. ‘The 
eggs (two in number), are of a most beautiful pearly tint; in 
fact, the bird, its nest and egg, are striking and beautiful, and a 
fit type of this very interesting family. 
