_J. & E. Gould del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
ENTOMYZA CYANOTIS, _Swains._
Blue-faced Entomyza.
_Cracula cyanotis_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xxix.—Shaw, Gen. Zool.,
vol. vii. p. 474.
_Blue-cheeked Honey-sucker_, _Meliphaga cyanops_, Lewin, Birds of New
Holl., pl. 4.
_Graculine Honey-eater_, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 166.
_Blue-eared Grakle_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 130.
_Turdus cyaneus_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xlii.
_Blue-cheeked Thrush_, Ib. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 184.—Gen.
Hist., vol. v. p. 124.
_Tropidorhynchus cyanotis_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv.
p. 325.
_Entomyza cyanotis_, Swains. Class. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 328.—G. R.
Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, p. 16.
_L’Heorotaire graculé_, Vieill. Ois. Dor., tom. ii. p. 125. pl. 87,
young.
_Graculine Creeper_, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 242, young.
_Graculine Honey-eater_, var. A., Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 166,
young.
_Pale-cheeked Honey-eater_, Ib., p. 167, young.
_Merops cyanops_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xxxiv, young.
_Blue-cheeked Bee-eater_, Ib. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 154,
young.—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 171, young.
_Blue-cheeked Honey-eater_, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 167, young.
——, var. A. and B., Ib., p. 168, young.
_White-crowned Honey-eater_, Ib., p. 169, young.
_Batikin_, Aborigines of the coast of New South Wales.
_Blue-eye_ of the Colonists.
This attractive and beautiful Honey-eater, one of the finest of the
_Meliphagidæ_, is strictly indigenous to New South Wales, where it is
abundant and very generally dispersed: I observed it in nearly every
part of the colony I visited, both in winter and summer. I also shot a
single specimen on the Namoi, but as this was almost the only one I saw
beyond the mountain ranges, I believe its most natural habitat to be
between the great dividing chain of mountains and the sea. In all
probability it may be found far to the northward on the eastern coast,
but it has not yet been observed in South Australia, neither is it an
inhabitant of Van Diemen’s Land.
In habits and actions the Blue-faced Honey-eater bears a striking
resemblance to the members of the genera _Ptilotis_ and _Hæmatops_; like
them, it is found almost exclusively on the _Eucalypti_, searching among
the blossoms and smaller leafy branches for its food, which is of a
mixed character, consisting partly of insects and partly of honey, and
probably, judging from others of its family, berries and fruits, but
this latter supposition I was not able to verify. Mr. Caley states, that
he once saw “several of them frequenting a tree, where they were very
busy in obtaining something that appeared to have exuded from a wounded
part. I do not know what the substance could be, otherwise than a kind
of gum of a bitter and astringent taste.” As I have never detected them
in feeding on this or any similar substance, I should rather suppose
they were in search of the insects that might have been attracted by
this exudation.
I have frequently seen eight or ten of these bold and spirited birds,
with numerous other small Honey-eaters and Parrakeets, on a single tree,
displaying the most elegant and easy movements, clinging and hanging in
every variety of position, frequently at the extreme ends of the small,
thickly-flowered branches, bending them down with their weight; they
may, however, be easily distinguished from the other birds with which
they are in company by their superior size, the brilliancy of their blue
face, and the contrasted colours of their plumage; they are rendered
equally conspicuous by the pugnacity with which they chase and drive
about the other species resorting to the same tree.
It frequently utters a rather loud and monotonous cry, not worthy the
name of a song.
I observed a most curious fact respecting the nidification of this bird:
in every instance that I found its eggs, they were deposited on the
deserted, dome-shaped, large nest of the _Pomatorhinus_, so numerous in
the Apple-tree Flats in the district of the Upper Hunter; never within
the dome, but in a neat round depression on the top. I had many
opportunities of driving the female off the nest, and I can therefore
speak with confidence as to this fact. Whether this bird resorts only to
places where it may avail itself of the nest of the _Pomatorhinus_, or
whether, under other circumstances, it constructs a nest for itself, are
points to which I would call the attention of those who are favourably
situated for investigating them; and who, by so doing, would render the
history of this species so much the more complete. It is probable that,
in places where no suitable substitute is to be found, it makes a rather
small nest, like all the other species of its tribe. It commences
breeding early, and rears at least two broods in the year: on reference
to my note-book, I find I saw fully-fledged young on the 19th of
November, and that I took many of their eggs in December: they were
generally two in number, of a rich salmon colour irregularly spotted
with rust-brown, one inch and a quarter long by ten and a half lines
broad.
The sexes differ in no respect from each other either in the colouring
of the plumage or in the blended richness and delicacy of the blue
surrounding the eye, to which it is almost impossible for the artist to
do justice.
The young assume the plumage of the adult from the nest, but differ from
them in having the naked face and the base of the bill of a pale
yellowish olive, which gradually changes to blue after the first season;
this has doubtless occasioned the great number of synonyms quoted above.
The adults have the crown of the head and back of the neck black; lower
part of the face, chin and centre of the chest slaty black; a
crescent-shaped mark at the occiput, a line from the lower mandible
passing down each side of the neck, and all the under surface pure
white; the upper surface, wings, and tail golden olive; the inner webs
of the primaries and all but the two centre tail-feathers brown; the
tail-feathers tipped with white; basal portion of the bill pale bluish
grey, passing into blackish horn-colour at the tip; bare space
surrounding the eye rich deep blue, becoming of a lighter and greenish
hue above the eye; irides yellowish white; eyelash jet-black; feet
bluish grey.
The young of the first autumn have the eye dark olive with a black lash,
and the denuded parts surrounding it, the base of the under mandible and
the gape greenish brimstone-yellow; nostrils and culmen near the head
yellowish horn-colour, passing into blackish brown at the tip; feet very
similar to those of the adult.
The Plate represents a male and female of the natural size, on a branch
of one of the lofty _Eucalypti_ of the river Hunter.
[Illustration:
ENTOMYZA ALBIPENNIS: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
ENTOMYZA ALBIPENNIS, _Gould_.
White-pinioned Honey-eater.
_Entomyza albipennis_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p.
169.
_Wȕr-ra-luh_, Aborigines of Port Essington.
The _Entomyza albipennis_ exhibits so many specific differences from the
_E. cyanotis_, that it is almost impossible for one to be mistaken for
the other: in the first place it is somewhat smaller in size, and in the
next the tints of the plumage are more strongly contrasted; besides
which, the white at the basal portion of the pinions is a character
which will at all times distinguish it from its near ally. So far as is
yet known, its habitat is confined to the northern coast of Australia,
where it is said to be rather abundant, particularly in the
neighbourhood of the settlement at Port Essington on the Cobourg
Peninsula. Mr. Gilbert states that it “is very shy, and from its being
always on the alert, somewhat difficult to get near; it is one of the
first birds heard in the morning, and often utters its plaintive _peet_
half-an-hour before daylight; as soon as the sun is fairly above the
horizon, its note is immediately changed to a harsh squeaking tone,
which is frequently uttered while the bird is on the wing, and repeated
at intervals throughout the day; it often takes tolerably long flights,
mounting in the air to a considerable height above the trees, and then
progressing steadily and horizontally. It is mostly met with in small
families of from six to ten in number, inhabiting the topmost branches
of the loftiest trees, and is seldom seen on or near the ground.”
The food consists of insects and the pollen of flowers, which are
procured from the almost perpetually flowering _Eucalypti_.
The sexes present little or no difference in the colouring of the
plumage, or, when fully adult, in the colouring of the soft parts, such
as the naked skin round the eyes, Sec.; immature birds, on the contrary,
vary very much in the colouring of the face and bill; in the youthful
those parts are saffron-yellow, which chances to rich ultramarine blue
in the adult.
The adults have the crown of the head and back of the neck black; lower
part of the face, chin and centre of the chest slaty black; a
crescent-shaped mark at the occiput, a line from the lower mandible
passing down each side of the neck, and all the under surface pure
white; upper surface and wings greenish golden olive; primaries brown,
the basal half of their inner webs snow-white; tail-feathers brown,
tinged with golden olive, all but the two centre ones tipped with white;
point and cutting edges of the upper mandible blackish grey; basal half
of the culmen horn-colour; remainder of the bill sulphur-yellow; orbits
brilliant blue; legs and feet leek-green.
The Plate represents an adult and an immature bird of the natural size.
[Illustration:
MELITHREPTUS VALIDIROSTRUS: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
MELITHREPTUS VALIDIROSTRIS, _Gould_.
Strong-billed Honey-eater.
_Hæmatops validirostris_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part IV. p.
144; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part I.
_Eidopsaris bicinctus_, Swains. An. in Menag., p. 344. No. 188.—Ib.
Class. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 327.
_Cherry-picker_, Colonists of Van Diemen’s Land.
This bird, the largest species of the genus yet discovered, is a native
of Van Diemen’s Land, and so universally is it distributed over that
island, that scarcely any part is without its presence. The crowns of
the highest mountains as well as the lowlands, if clothed with
_Eucalypti_, are equally enlivened by it. Like all the other members of
the genus, it frequents the small leafy and flowering branches; it
differs, however, from its congeners in one remarkable character, that
of alighting upon and clinging to the surface of the boles of the trees
in search of insects, after the manner of the Woodpecker and
Nuthatch,—not that it can traverse this part of the tree with the same
facility; I never in fact saw it run up and down the trunk as those
birds do, but merely fly to such parts as instinct led it to select as
the probable abode of insects; and it always perches across the stem,—a
position seldom, if ever, assumed by the Nuthatch or Woodpecker; I do
not, however, consider this habit of sufficient importance to warrant
its separation from those with which it is here associated.
The chief food of this species is insects of various kinds, after which
it searches with the most scrutinizing care among the flowering gums.
I am indebted to my friend the Rev. Thomas J. Ewing of Hobart Town, Van
Diemen’s Land, for the nest and eggs of this bird, which I failed in
procuring during my stay in that island. Like those of the other members
of the genus the nest is round and cup-shaped, suspended by the rim and
formed of coarse wiry grasses, with a few blossoms of grasses for a
lining; the eggs are three in number, eleven lines long by eight lines
broad, and of a dull olive-buff, thickly spotted and blotched with
markings of purplish brown and bluish grey, the latter appearing as if
beneath the surface of the shell.
The sexes assimilate so closely in size and plumage, that by dissection
alone can they be distinguished; the young, on the contrary, during the
first autumn differ so considerably from the adult, as almost to induce
the belief that they are the young of some other species; having,
however, killed them myself at the breeding-place in company with the
adults, I can vouch that they are really the young of this bird and of
none other. The specimens from which the upper figures in the
accompanying Plate were taken, were shot by myself near the summit of
Mount Wellington. I may mention that in the vast forests of gums on the
banks of the Tamar, this species was equally or even more abundant than
in the southern part of the island. I have never seen it on the
continent of Australia, neither have specimens been sent from New South
Wales or South Australia.
Its song consists of a couple of notes and is not remarkable for its
melody.
Crown of the head jet-black, with an occipital band of white terminating
at each eve; ear-coverts, chin and back of the neck black; all the upper
surface greyish olive, becoming brighter on the rump and external edges
of the tail-feathers; wings brown, with a slight tinge of olive; throat
pure white; under surface brownish grey; bill black; feet brownish
horn-colour; eyes reddish brown; bare skin over the eye white, tinged
with bright green.
The young have the bill and feet yellow, but the latter paler than the
former, and a circle of the same colour round the eye; the band at the
occiput is also pale yellow instead of white.
The Plate represents an adult male and two young birds in the plumage of
the first autumn, of the natural size.
[Illustration:
MELITHREPTUS GELARIS: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
MELITHREPTUS GULARIS, _Gould_.
Black-throated Honey-eater.
_Hæmatops gularis_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part IV. p. 144; and
in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part I.
This species is very abundant in all parts of South Australia, where it
inhabits the large _Eucalypti_. During my stay in Adelaide I frequently
saw it on some of the high trees that had been allowed to remain by the
sides of the streets in the middle of the city. From this locality it
extends its range eastward to New South Wales, where it is much more
rare, and where it can only be sought for with the certainty of finding
it along the extreme limits of the colony towards the interior. I killed
several specimens in the Upper Hunter district, and observed it to be
tolerably numerous on the plains in the neighbourhood of the river
Namoi, and that it breeds in all these countries is proved by my having
killed the young in different stages of growth in all of them. In its
habits and economy it differs considerably from the _Melithreptus
validirostris_; for instance, I never saw it perch on the boles of the
trees, as is usual with that species, neither is it so exclusively
confined to the large trees. It is a very noisy bird, constantly
uttering a loud harsh grating call while perched on the topmost dead or
bare branch of a high tree; the call being as frequently uttered by the
female as by the male. Like the _Melithreptus lunulatus_, it frequents
the leafy branches, which it threads and creeps among with the greatest
ease and dexterity, assuming in its progress a variety of graceful
attitudes. Insects and the pollen of flowers being almost its sole food,
those trees abounding with blossoms are visited by it in preference to
others.
There is no variation in the colouring of the sexes, but there is a very
considerable difference between the young and old birds, particularly in
the colouring of the soft parts; the young are much less brilliant than
the young of _M. validirostris_, in which the colouring of the soft
parts far excels those of the adults.
With the nest and eggs of this species I am unacquainted; they are
therefore desiderata to my cabinet, and would be thankfully received
from any person resident in the colony where the bird is so common. That
the nest will be cup-shaped in form, constructed of grasses, &c., and
suspended by the rim to the smaller branches of the _Eucalypti_, and
that the eggs will be two or three in number, there can be little doubt.
Crown of the head black, an occipital band of white terminating at each
eye; ear-coverts and back of the neck black; back and rump golden olive;
wings and tail brown; throat greyish white, with a central stripe of
black; under surface greyish brown; bill black; feet and tarsi brownish
orange; irides hazel; bare skin above the eye beautiful bluish green.
The young have the gape, lower mandible, and feet yellowish orange.
The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size.
[Illustration: