40 OOLOGICAL NOTES, 



Ptilotis Jlaviriclus. From a single specimen obtained at Cape 

 York, Gould described a decidedly smaller race with an unusually 

 long bill as P. gracilis, of which there are similar specimens in the 

 Macleayan Museum, obtained at Cardwell ; and later on charac- 

 terised another specimen received from Cape York, that had the 

 undersurface of the body slightly streaked, and the ear patch 

 well defined, as P. notata. It is worthy of note, however, that 

 specimens collected by members of the Chevert Expedition at 

 Cape York and the islands of Torres Straits, where Mr. Masters 

 states it is common, as well as others obtained from Hall Sound 

 and Katau in New Guinea, and by Goldie at Pott Moresby, are 

 precisely similar in colour, size, length of bill and extent of ear 

 patch as the specimen procured on the Herbert River, its farthest 

 southern limit yet recorded, and all of which agree with the 

 original figure and description of P. analoga. 



Nests of this species taken by Mr. Boyd were suspended by the 

 rim and built in Mango trees at an height of five or six feet from 

 the ground; they are cup-shaped structures, outwardly composed 

 of the hair-like fibre of the Cocoanut Palm, dried skeletons of 

 leaves, and pieces of the paper-like bark of the Melaleuca, the 

 interior being beautifully lined with the downy glistening white 

 seeds of the "Cotton Plant"; they measure exteriorly three inches 

 and a half in diameter by two inches and a half in depth ; in- 

 ternally, two inches and a half in diameter by two inches in 

 depth. Eggs usually two in number for a sitting; they are 

 ovoid in form, pure white, with small blotches, rounded spots and 

 dots on the thicker end, varying in size, also in shade from a rich 

 redilish-black to a purplish-brown, closely resembling small eggs of 

 Ptilotis lewinii. A set taken on the 11th of September, 1893, 

 measure (A) 0-92 x 0-67 inch ; (B) 0-93 x 0-67 inch ; another set 

 taken the 30th of the following month measure (A) 092 x 0'66 

 inch ; (B) 0-9 x 0*65 inch. Mr. Boyd has also from time to time 

 supplied me with the following information respecting a nest ot 

 this species he had under close observation from the time it was 

 started until the young ones left the nest. It was a most curious 

 position selected, the nest being built upon the frond of a fern. 



