Barred Honeyeater Gliciphila undulata Scientific name definitions

16–20 cm; one female 16 g. Distinctively marked honeyeaterwith long, slender and fairly strongly decurved bill. Top of head , hindneck and side of neck are dark olive-brown, fine whitish scalloping at side of crown grading to bolder white scalloping on neck; lores, patch around eye and narrow stripe above and behind eye dusky black, contrasting with finely black-speckled silvery grey-white ear-coverts; broad off-white malar stripe extends to side of neck, becoming finely scalloped black rather variably, sometimes only posteriorly, and meeting (or almost meeting) largely clear whitish band (diffusely scaled slightly darker) curving across lower throat; isolated brownish-black chin and upper throat , broken up towards lower throat by sparse whitish barring; upperparts brownish-grey to dark brown, diffusely streaked and scaled paler olive-grey or brown on mantle, back and scapulars, upperwing-coverts with fine pale margins (reduced or lost with wear), remiges with yellow-olive edges (conspicuous on folded wing), uppertail dark brown; underbody off-white to very pale grey with broken blackish-brown barring, this bold on anterior flanks and breast (where merging with barring of side of neck), paler and less heavy on lower underbody, and faint or sometimes absent in centre of belly and vent; undertail pale brownish-grey, underwing pale buff-white with silvery brownish-grey trailing edge and tip; with wear plumage becomes browner and pattern duller; iris dark brown to red-brown; bill black; legs blue-grey to dark grey. Sexes alike in plumage, male larger than female. Juvenile is duller and slightly paler than adult, with only faint barring below.

New Caledonia.

Nectar (including of Geissois and Grevillea), small insects, some fruit. Acrobatic , hanging and clambering about flowers and branches. Seen singly or in small parties, congregating in flowering trees. Pugnacious, fighting with conspecifics or other species.

Flute-like whistle , "phew", sometimes of 2–3 or more syllables, often preceded by long descending trill.

Breeds Aug–Jan. Nest cup-shaped, made of dead grasses and ferns, with soft woolly lining (probably of sedge inflorescences), or lined with feathers, some covered externally with fern or moss, external diameter 9 cm, depth 6 cm, internal diameter 6·5 cm, depth 3·5 cm; well concealed 0·3–1·6 m (mean 1·2 m) above ground, one within small Xanthostemon aurianticum shrub, attached to grasses and a branch of the shrub. Clutch 1 egg; both parents incubate eggs and rear young; no information on duration of incubation and nestling periods.