378 



NESTS A AD EGGS Of AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



It is an interesting fact that tliis inteiior bird should have been 

 taken on the Upper Yarra. Specimens aie in the National Museum, 

 Melbourne, that were shot one November by that indefatigable 

 collector, Mr. Kendall Broadbent, in a wattle-tree near the Kew 

 Asylum. 



Gould obsei-ved that this rare httle creature is very active among 

 the branches, capturing insects on the wing and darting forth and 

 retiuning to the same spot, much after the manner of Flycatchers. 

 During flight it repeatedly spreads its tail, when the white portion 

 of the feathers shows veiy conspicuously, while the yellow colouring 

 of the wings also contributes to the beauty of its appearance. Its song 

 is loud and not very hannonious. 



The eggs are still a desideratmu. The only nest on record was 

 found by Gould on the 5th September, 1839, and contained two nearly- 

 fledged young. 



316. — Entomophila RUFIGULARI8, Gould. — (328) 

 RED-THROATED HONEYEATER. 



Figure. — Gould ; Birds oi Australia, lol., vol. iv., pi. 52. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. ix., p. 219. 



Previous Descriptiuns of Eggs. — Ramsay : Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S. Wales, 

 vol. ii., p. Ill (1878;; Keartland: Victorian Naturalist (1S97) 

 Campbell : Proc. Austn. Assoc, vol vii., p. 602 (1898J ; North 

 Trans. Roy. Soc, S A., vol. xxii., p. 153 (1898); Le Souef 

 Victorian Naturalist (1S99). 



Geuyruphical Distributwn. — North-west Austraha, Northern Ten'i- 

 tory, and North Queenslaad. 



Xed. — Cup-shaped, neat, and somewhat deep ; composed of fine 

 shreds of bark and whitish cottony material ; inside Uned with grasses 

 only ; usually suspended by one side of the rim to a slender twig of a 

 low (bauliinia) tree, but occasionally high in a eucalypt. Dimensions 

 over all, about 2i inches by 3 inches in depth; egg cavity, 1^ inches 

 across by 2-i inches deep. 



Eijgi. — Clutch, two to three ; inclined to oval ; textiu-e, fine ; surface 

 glossy, some shghtly so. These eggs vary much, the general type 

 resembhng in character those of Muluri or Acanthizce. being warm- 

 wliite, spotted and blotched, particularly round the apex, with reddish- 

 brown or chestnut and pui-plish-brown. Dimensions in inches of two 

 clutches: A (1) -71 x -51, (2) -7 x -5, (3) •68x-52; B (1) -72 x -49, 

 (2) -71 X -5, (3) -67 X -45. (Plate 13.) 



Another type resembles those of Ephthianura alhifrons, being wliite 

 sparingly spotted with purplish-brown from dark to light shades. 

 Dimensions ; (1) -73 x -52, (2) -72 x -53, (3) -72 x -51. 



A third type resembles those of GlycyphiJa moclesta, but is smaller, 

 being white, minutely marked with dark spots. 



