[Note.—The Brush Wattle-birds, Friar-birds, Spine-bills, and the Yellow-throated Minah, are known as Honey-eaters, and the whole series are sometimes called Honey-birds.]
1897. A. J. Campbell (in `The Australasian,' Jan. 23), p. 180, col. i:
"The honey-eaters or meliphagous birds are a peculiar and striking feature in Australian ornithology. As Gould points out, they are to the fauna what the eucalypts, banksias, and melaleucas are to the flora of Australia. They are closely adapted to feeding on these trees. That great author asks:— `What can be more plain than that the brushlike tongue is especially formed for gathering the honey from the flower-cups of the eucalypti, or that their diminutive stomachs are especially formed for this kind of food, and the peculiar insects which constitute a portion of it?'"
<hw>Honey-Eucalypt</hw>, <i>n</i>. See <i>Box-tree, Yellow</i>.
<hw>Honey-flower</hw>, <i>n</i>. <i>Lambertia formosa</i>, Smith, <i>N.O. Proteaceae</i>.
1802. G. Barrington, `History of New South Wales,' c. iv. p. 101:
"They . . . returned . . . dreadfully exhausted, having existed chiefly by sucking the wild honey-flower and shrubs."
1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 37:
"`Honey-flower' or `honeysuckle,' a plant as well known to small boys about Sydney as to birds and insects. It obtains its vernacular name on account of the large quantity of a clear honey-like liquid the flowers contain. After sucking some quantity the liquid generally produces nausea and headache."
<hw>Honey-plant</hw>, <i>n</i>. name given in Tasmania to <i>Richea scoparia</i> Hook., <i>N.O. Epacris</i>.