f& J L lT C in P H I J L iA J F A ^ C I A T A s C o i tk l .
GLYCIPHILA FASCIATA, Gould.
Fasciated Honey-eater.
Glyciphila fasciata, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., October 11, 1842.
A l l the specimens hitherto collected of this new species have been obtained from the Cobourg Peninsula,
in the neighbourhood of Port Essington, where,' according to Mr. Gilbert, it is far from being common, for in
his notes he says, “ I only once observed it near the settlement, and once again met with it on the neck of
the peninsula near the main land. Its favourite haunts appeared to be the upper branches of the Melaleuca,
from the blossoms o f which it collects its food. In both instances I observed small families of about twelve
in number. Its note is a sharp shrill piping call, very rapidly repeated.”
The fasciated markings of the under surface, by which this species is at once distinguished from every
other member of the genus to which it is at present assigned, and the circumstance of its moving about in
small parties, would seem to indicate the propriety of its separation'; as, however, it is precisely of the same
structure, and agrees with them in the colouring of the upper surface, I have preferred retaining it in the
present genus.
Its food consists of insects generally, the pollen, and occasionally the buds of flowers.
Crown of the head brownish black, with a small crescent of white at the extremity of each feather ; feathers
of the back very dark brown, margined with huffy brown; rump tinged with rufous ; wings and tail
dark brown, fringed with light brown ; sides of the face, throat and under surface white; from the angle of
the mouth down the side of the neck a narrow stripe of brownish black; chest crossed by a number of semicircular
brownish black fasciae; flanks and under tail-coverts buff, the former with a stripe of brownish
black down the centre; irides reddish brotvn ; bill greenish-grey; feet aurora-red.
The figures are those of a male and a female of the natural size.