386 



NESTS AND EGGS OE AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



Honeyeater may be seen flitting about among the thick dusters of the 

 pendant flowers, in search of insects, which are sometimes captured on 

 the wing, but more generally extracted from the tubular florets. " 



From brushes to back yards — Mr. North mentions that in the 

 winter months small flocks of these birds used to visit his yard at 

 Dobroyde, near Sydney, regularly everv day, to be fed on bread crumbs. 



In the Bendigo district, Victoria, towards the Campaspe River, I 

 once came upon quite a number of Fuscous Honeyeaters feeding upon 

 grevillea bushes that grew in a snug hollow in an ironbark (Eurnlyitfu^) 

 forest. I did not see a nest, however, until I went to Coomooboolaroo, 

 Queensland, where I obser\-ed one suspended among the flowering 

 branchlets of a eucalyptus near the lagoon. 



The Messi^s. Brittlebank have found a number of these birds' nests 

 in a patch of eucalypts near the Werribee River, above Bacchus Marsh, 

 Victoria, where I likewise enjoyed hearing the jolly little .songs of these 

 birds. 



The Messrs. Barnard infoimed me that, like many other birds, the 

 Fuscous Honeyeater lays according to the season : if droughty one or 

 two eggs are laid, if the season be good three are deposited. Once a 

 clutch of fovir was taken, which is, of course, an exceptional complement. 



Breeding months, usually August to December, or later, but occa- 

 sionally as early as June and July in Queensland. 



323. — Ptilotis lewini. Swainson. — (306) 



YELLOW-EARED HONEYEATER. 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Australia, fol , vol iv., pi 32 



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



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould: Birds of Australia (1848), also 



Handbook, vol i , p 504(1865); Ramsay : PZ.S. p 595 (1875) ; 



North : Austn. Mus. Cat., p. 199, pi, 13. fig, i (18S9) ; Campbell : 



Proc. Austn. Assoc, vol. vii., p 6og (1898) 



Gfographiral Dixtrihufinn. — Queensland, New South Wales and 

 Victoria. 



Nest. — Cup-shaped, deep, with substantial walls ; constructed chiefly 

 of strips of bark (Mclnhurn, &c.), and spiders' cocoons, generally out- 

 wardly beautifully covered with moss ; lined inside with thick, wann 

 ply of a downy or silky substance, such as thistle-down or other soft 

 seeds, varying in colour — white, brown, or yellowish — .according to the 

 locality or the species of plant from which the seeds are gathered ; usually 

 attached to the twigs of a thick bush or tree in scrub and forest country 

 alike. Dimensions over all, 3i to 4 inches by 2h to 3 inches in depth ; 

 egg cavity, 2] to 2i inches across by H to If inches deep. 



Efjf/x. — Clutch, two to three, usvially the former niimber ; nearly 

 true oval in shape ; texture of shell fine ; surface glossy ; colour, white, 



