52 THE WOMBAT. 
the not unmusical staccato of the Jasmanian Honeyeater. 
Numerically the New Holland Honeyeaters were strongest, their 
nests were found at every turn, fixed firmly in the forks of mimosa 
bushes. 
A nest set low down in ferns caught my companion’s eye; it 
held three eggs rather small for the New Holland Honeyeater, so 
he called me over. JI diagnosed Tasmanian Honeyeater, and 
waited to see. The New Holland birds flew about our heads as 
we lay concealed, but did not go to the nest, on to which presently 
crept a female Tasmanian Honeyeater. Thus sure of the bird, we 
examined the nest closely to see whereiu it differed from that of 
its near cousin. In the first place it was a good deal broader. 
Between the outside frame of light twigs and the lining were three 
or four large dried leaves. The lining itself was of fine grass, as 
contrasted with that of the New Holland Honeyeater’s which is 
in nine cases out of ten composed of one kind or another of seed 
down. We examined several nests of this species subsequently 
and always found these distinguishing marks. Besides, the eggs 
area good deal smaller as a rule, though I think I have seen one 
or two New Holland Honeyeater’s eggs not much larger than the 
Tasmanian’s that we found, 
A. penetrated a belt of shortwood scrub, and had the good 
fortune to discover within a few yards of each other two nests of 
the Brush Wattle Bird, each with a pair of eggs, one clutch being 
of the dark and the other of the light type. ‘The nests were built 
about 10 feet from the ground in shortwoods about 15 or 20 feet 
high, and appeared very small for the size of the bird. In this 
respect they are like the Spiny Cheeked Honeyeater’s nests, but 
are flattish structures, lined with bark and grass and built in a 
fork, and so easily distinguishable from those of the latter bird 
which are pensile and well woven. The eggs of the two species 
present more similarity than the nests, but the advantage in point 
of size is clearly with the Brush Wattle Bird. 
Close to the edge of a swamp a pair of White-fronted 
Sericornes had a nest with feathered young. In this case the 
position chosen was in a mass of tangled vegetation about three 
teet from the ground. 
I flushed a Bronzewing Pigeon from a meal of ironbark scrub 
seeds, a favourite food of this bird. Other birds we noted were 
the Musk Lorikeet (G@lossopsittacus concinnus) and one of its smaller 
congeners, probably the Purple-crowned, and also the Red Lory 
(Platycercus pennantit). Those of the latter species we suw had 
not attained their full plumage. They breed in these forests, but 
are careful as a rule to select inacessible spouts in tall gums. We 
heard however of a nest with eggs found about the middle of the 
month (September) in the scrub at the back of Anglesea. 
