NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 385 



proporlionately smaller, are a fleshy tint and richly coloured. The 

 decided difTorencc in the two classes would jippcar constant, judging by 

 the series of eggs, identified by skins of both kinds of birds shot from 

 the ni'sts, whicli I had the opportiniity of examining with Mr. Dudley 

 Lo Soui-'f, at the Zoological Gai'dens, Melbourne. 



When collecting at Cape York, 1896-7 season, Mr. Harry Barnard 

 took nine or ten nests, eacii containing two eggs of /'. notata, and four 

 nests — three each two eggs, tlio other a single — of P. gracilis. There 

 arc also birds and eggs of both kinds in the collection of Mr. Lc Souef, 

 whicti lio bro\ight down from the Bloomfield River district. 



I hardly know that I am con-ect in giving as a reference Dr. Ramsay's 

 do.scriiJtion of the eggs taken near Cainis by Mr. Bowyer-Bower, as 

 liclouging to tliose of the smaller species. The rich colouration — 

 " noai-ist to those of P. aurinimix " — agi-(<es, but not the dimensions. 



Breeding months for the Lesser Yellow-spotted Honoyeater, October 

 to January. 



322. — Ptilotis fusca, Gould. — (319) 

 FUSCOUS HONEYEATER. 



Figiirt.—GoiM : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iv., pi. 44. 



Reference.— Cht. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. ix., p. 229. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Kumsay \ Trans. Phil. See. New South 

 Wales, with fig (1865) ; Campbell: Southern Science Record 

 (1883) ; also Proc. Austn. Assor., vol. vii., p. 608 (1898). 



Gengrnphiral Bulrihiifion. — Queensland, New South Wales and 

 Victoria. 



Nest. — Cup-shaped, neat ; composed of shreds of brownish bark, 

 matted with spiders' web and cocoons ; lined inside with fine shreds of 

 bark, a few rootlets or grass stalks, hair, and sometimes the silky down 

 from seed vessels or cotton material, gathered in the neighbourliood of 

 habitations ; usually placed among the branchlcts at the end of a hori- 

 zontal cucalypt bough. Dimensions over all, 2^ inches by 2| inches 

 in depth ; eg^ cavity, If inches across by 1| inches deep. 



Eggs. — Clutch, one to three, but usually two ; oval or roimdish in 

 form ; texture of .shell fine ; surface has a faint trace of gloss ; coloiu\ 

 rich salmon or buff, marked more or less distinctly about the apex with 

 pinkish-red and purplish-brown. Dimensions in inches of a pair : 

 (n -77 X -56, (2) -7.3 x -6. 



Ohservations. — The range of the Fuscous Honeyeater extends from 

 Northern Queensland down to, probably, Soutli Australia. 



Although this Honeyeater is not distinguished by any brilliancy of 



colour, Gould has painted it in a pretty word picture. Referring to 



the bird in tlie brushes of New South Wales, he says, " In the months of 



August and September, when the beautiful Terama is in blossom, the 



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