NESTS AND EGGS 01- AUSr KALIAN hIKPS. 383 



320. — Ptilotis notata, Gould. 

 YELLOW-SPOTTED HONEYEATER. 



/M>«ir —Could : Birds of Australia, fol. siipp pi 41 



Reference ~Cax. Birds Brit. Mus.. ix., p. 227. 



Previous Descriptions of E«g,s — North : Austn. Mus. Cat., pi. 13, fig. 4 

 (1889) ; also Proc. Linn. Soc, N S. Wales, 2nd ser., vol ix , p. 39 

 (1894): Campbell; Proc. Austn. .^ssoc, vol., vii , p C06 (189S) ; 

 Le Souef : Ibis, p. 58. (1898) 



GeogrnphirnI Diitrihufion. — Northern Tpn-itory and Nortli Queens- 

 land ; also New Guinea. 



Xett. — Cup-shaped, deep ; consti-ucted of fibre, coated with large 

 pieces of pa])er-likc melaleuca bark ; inside, chiefly the bottom, lined 

 with a white, cottony substance ; placed in the forked branch usually 

 of a low bush, but occasionally at the height of thirty feet from the 

 gi-ound, in scrub. Dimensions over all, 3i to 4 inches by 1| to 3 inches 

 in depth ; egg cavity, 2h to 3 inches across by H to 2 inches deep. 



Eij!/s. — Clutch, two, rarely thi-ee ; inclined to oval in shape ; texture 

 exceedingly fine ; surface vei-y glossy ; coloiu", pearly white, with a few 

 pronounced or bold spots and roundish blotches of deep purplish-brown 

 .about the apex. Most resemble the eggs of the Yellow-cared Honey- 

 cater fP. hwini ). Dimensions in inches of a clutch; (1) -9 x -64, 

 (2) -88 X -63. 



Ohaerviitiuiis. — Tliis Honoyeater is also known as P. oruiloga 

 (Reichenbach), and a dozen other synonyms; but for the sake of sim- 

 plicity I prefer to retain Gould's name, P. notata, which appears under 

 a fine picture of the bird in his folio supplement. 



The Yellow-spotted Honeyeater may be said to be the northern and 

 smaller representative of the Yellow-eared f^P. hwini). Gould savs 

 Gilbert collected a bird very nearly allied, if not the Yellow-spotted 

 Honeyeater. at Brown's Lagoon, on the 30th December, 1844, when 

 travelling with Leichhardt from Moreton Bav to Port Essington. 



During the Scientific Expedition to Bellenden-Ker Range (1S89), 

 the Yellow-spotted Honeyeater was found at all heights up to 4,000 feet. 



Mr. A. J. North, who has accurately described the nest and eggs of 

 this bird, states : " Mr. Boyd (Herbert River), has also from time to 

 time supplied me with the following inforaiation. A nest of this species 

 he had under close obsci-\Mtion from the time it was started imtil the 

 yoimg left the nest. It was a most curious position selected, the nest 

 being built upon the frond of a fern eighteen inches from the gi-ound, 

 growing in a fernery attached to Mr. Boyd's house, and opposite his 

 office, to which people were constantly coming through the day ; a piano 

 also, that wa.« in frequent use by the children, being within fifteen feet 

 of the nest. During the period of incubation the female sat steadily. 

 and did not attempt to fly when looked at by one only tlu-ee feet away, 

 the nest being so deep that the whole of the bird's bodv was invisible 

 except the bill. The bird was quite tame, and used to fly backwards and 



