around Melbourne. They prefer the margins of wet or dry sclerophyll forest and thick woodlands, often with a stream or other permanent water source nearby. This limits their range to higher rainfall areas near the coast, often bordering, but not inside, rainforest. Compared to the closely related noisy miner, bell miners prefer a denser habitat with a thick understory (<5 m), but a sparse midstory (5–15 m) and canopy (>15m). In an undisturbed setting, bell miners choose habitat with an understory of shrubs, ferns, sedges, and rainforest vines. They have been observed to expand their range in disturbed habitats that have a thick undergrowth of the invasive weed lantana. Bell miner population densities have been measured at 14-38 birds per hectare. They are particular about their preferred habitat and reasonably small disturbances to undergrowth, such as fire or lantana removal, can cause a colony to move to a new territory. Behaviour Social organization The complex social organization of bell miners was observed as early as the 1960s in New South Wales, and has been studied by several research groups in Victoria. Bell miners live in large colonies of 8-200+ birds, which consist of coteries or clans of generally related male birds and their offspring. Each coterie is made up of several monogamous breeding pairs with their nest helpers. As a colony, bell miners are aggressive and set up a permanent territory that they will defend together against all other honeyeaters and any other species, which they perceive are a threat to their preferred food source or themselves. Within the colonial territory, each breeding pair has its own foraging range. Helpers assist multiple breeding pairs, and move between the foraging range of several pairs. Coteries are groups that are interconnected and interact daily within the larger colony, due to a close genetic relationship. Due to their aggressive nature, bell miners are known for excluding other birds from their territory, and larger avian species, like kookaburras, currawongs, and crows are mobbed by up to twelve miners from different coteries within the colony. Predators are repeatedly attacked, if they settle in another part of the colony's territory. Small birds that keep to the understory, like fairy-wrens, scrubwrens and blackbirds are often not driven out, but small birds that typically forage in the midstory or canopy or share similar foods, like pardalotes, are not allowed access within the territory. One of the few species