December J LEONARD: Black-headed 279 1978

Referring to Slater ( 1970), I could not identify the wader but the illustration and description in Readers' Digest (1976, p.189) convinced me that the under observation had been the Common Sandpiper Tringa hypoleucos. Finally, it is of interest that in the distribution maps of these two references, the Common Sandpiper is not shown to occur in the Broken Hill area of New South Wales. According to them it ap­ pears to be confined to coastal and near coastal districts of the northern, eastern and western sides of continental Australia, with occurrences along the lower reaches of the Murray River and south of Alice Springs. However Condon ( 1975, p.128) gives it as occurring "occasion­ ally on inland swamps" while Macdonald ( 1973, p.165) goes so far as to say that the Common Sandpiper is distributed "Through­ out" ... Despite this disparity it would seem that a close watch of permanent water storages in the interior might be likely to pro­ vide an enlargement of this migratory species' summer range, in the future. REFERENCES Condon, H. T., 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia: Part 1 Non-. Royal Australian Ornithologists' Union, Melbourne. Macdonald, J. D., 1973. Birds of Australia. A H. & A W. Reed, Sydney. Readers' Digest, 1976. Complete Book of Australian Birds Read­ ers' Digest Services, Sydney. Slater, P., 1970. A Field Guide to Australian Birds: Non-Passer­ ines. Rigby, Adelaide. By Simon Townsend, 13 Parkstone Avenue, Pascoe Vale South Victoria, 3044.

Black-headed Honeyeaters Dismantling Previous Nest. Whilst walking along the top of a lightly timbered ridge near Fringal, Tasmania, on October 10, 1977 I noticed a Black-headed , Melithreptus affinis feeding two full-sized but im­ mature-plumaged young, perched in a large White Gum Eucalyp­ tus viminalis. There were apparently two adults doing the feeding and at one stage one of these made a 50 metre beeline to the top canopy of a Peppermint Eucalypt further up the ridge. Normally such a direct and deliberate flight would have made me check for a nest, but owing to the two young already found, I didn't bother. However, when returning down this ridge, a couple of hours later and passing this Peppermint at a different angle I noticed a dark blur high in the leaves which was possibly a nest so I walked closer to get a clearer view. 28b LEONARD [ Watcher

When I arrived directly beneath the tree I could see - with the aid of binoculars - that the blur was a nest and appeared new due to the fresh reddish colour of the bark which was its main constituent. Almost immediately a Black-headed Honeyeater arrived at the nest and appeared to recommence work on it. "Very good" said Harry, "I'll have a nice sit down after all this rotten walking and watch them building for a while". By the time I had organised a fairly comfortable seat with a clear view the bird had disappeared so I sat and waited patiently. Within 5 minutes it was back, this time with a mate, and began energetically tugging at the bottom of the nest. "Funny place to be working" I thought, and then the penny dropped. The birds were dismantling this nest in which they had presumably raised their first clutch and were re-building with the same material in_ the vicinity. This was borne out by further observation as the new nest was 100 metres away amongst twigs and leaves near the top of another spreading Peppermint and about 20 metres above the ground. I watched this nest for another half hour in which time the building bird visited the site four times. Each time only one bird carried material and worked on the nest whilst the other perched and preened nearby or flew along a few metres behind, apparently "shouting encouragement and ex­ horting the builder to greater efforts". This behaviour I have no­ ticed before with the related Strong-billed Honeyeater, Melithreptus validirostris in that one bird builds with the other one of the pair in close attendance but not actually working. Not all the material for the new nest came from the old one as what appeared to be lichen and cobwebs were collected from dead limbs in another tree. This was sandwiched between trips to the old nest and visits with feed to the young which were pottering about on their own account after insects in the White Gum in which I had first seen them. A couple of months later I noticed a pair of Black-headed feeding a young Pallid Cuckoo Cuculus pallidus near this nest. In fact, during this later visit, on a walk of perhaps two kilometres, I saw four pairs of Black-headed feeding young and of these, three pairs were fostering young Pallid Cuckoos. By Harry Leonard, 7 Helen Grove, St. Helens, Tasmania. 7216.