NESTS A.VD EOGS Ol AUSTRALIAN BlliDS. 37y 



Oli'.ervdtiiiiin. — Like the Rufous-breasted (E. alhiguhiri-i ), the Red- 

 thi'oated Hoiieyeater is distributed over Northern Australia. Dr. 

 Ramsay stati's it ha.s been fouud breeding in the neighbourhood of 

 Georgetown, in tlio Gulf of t'arpentaria country, during the months from 

 September to Mai-eli. His examples of nest :md eggs were sent to him 

 by Mr. Armit, and were taken in a cork-tree ( Erytlirinaj. 



I had the privilege of critically examining several sets of eggs of the 

 little Red-throated Honeyeater, taken by Mr. G. A. Keartland, in north- 

 western Australia, wliere the birds appeared to be nvmiorous, for he 

 informs me he obtained no less than thirty nests between the 20th 

 Febniary and 16th March, 1897, chiefly in the Fitzroy River district. 

 Mr. Keartland also mentions that the nests were usually situated low in 

 a bauhiuia tree, but sometimes were placed high in a eucalypt. The 

 various types of eggs above described ai'e in Mr. Keartland's collection. 



Mr. Keartland says, at nesting time, which is immediately after the 

 tropical rains of Januaiy and Febi-uaiy, the Red-throated Honeyeaters 

 become very tame. On several occasions he has stood under a tree 

 within five feet of where the birds were building their nest. 



317. — Entomophila albigularis, Gould. — (327) 



RUFOUS-BREASTED HONEYEATER. 



Figure— GonXA : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iv., pi. 51. 

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



Previous Descriptions of fifgj,— Gould : Birds of Australia (1848) ; also 

 Handbook, vol. i., p. 532 (1865). 



Geographirn] Dinfrihutiun. — North-west Australia, Northern Tem- 

 tory, and North Queensland ; also New Guinea and Am Islands. 



.IVs-^ — Cup-shaped, smaJl, deep; composed of naiTow strips of soft, 

 paper-like bark of the melalcuca, matted together with small vegetable 

 lil)ris, and slightly lined \vith soft gi'ass ; suspended from the extremity 

 of a weak projecting branch overhanging water (Gilbert). 



Egr/x. — Clutch, two to three ; rather lengthened in form, and not 

 unlike thosi' of Muhirus rymieu^ in the colour and disposition of their 

 markings, their groinid colour being white, thinly freckled all over with 

 bright chestnut-red, particularly at the larger end. Dimensions, 9 lines 

 (•7."i inch) X G lines (-.5 inch) — (Gilbert). A pair of eggs in the collection 

 of Mr. S. W. Jackson, taken on the Nicholson River, North Queens- 

 land, 16th January, 1898, is similar, measuring: (1) -76 x -53, 

 (2) -72 X -52. 



Ohsrnmtiiitis. — All the knowledge we possess at present of the small 

 Rufous-breasted (White-throated of Gould) Honeyeater is limited to 

 Gilbert's keen researches in Northern Australia. He says : " I fii'st met 

 with it on Mayday Island, in Van Diemen's Gulf, where it appeared to 

 be tolerably abundant. I aftei-wards found it to be equally numerous 



