N£S2S Ai\D EGGS Ol- AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 389 



325. — Ptilotis macleayana, Ramsay. 

 F. fluuUlriutu, Gould. 



YELLOW-STKEAKEU HONEYEATER. 



f/4'K«. — Gould-Sharpe ; Birds of Ntw GuiiiL-a, vol. iii , pi. 50. 

 lie/ertnce. — Cat. Birds Brit Mus., vol. ix , p. 232. 



Pnvioiis Description nj Eggs. — North ; Proc. Linn. See , N.S. Wales, vol. 

 xxiii,, p. 380 (1898). 



Geographical Distribuliim. — North Queensland. 



Nest. — Deep, cup-shaped, suspended by the rim to a thin, forked 

 liorizontiil twig; composed chielly of cocoa-nut fibre, with which is 

 intenningled on the lower portion a few broad leaves, skeletons of 

 leaves, the paper-like bark of a melaleuca, egg bags of spiders, &c. ; 

 lined inside entii'ely with cocoa-nut fibre. Dimensions over all, 3^ inches 

 by 4 inches in depth; egg cavity, 2^ inches across by 2J inches deep 

 (North). 



E(j<js. — Clut<;li, two ; oval in form ; texture of shell fine ; surface 

 slightly glossy ; colour, pale fleshy-bufl'. sprinkled with numerous dis- 

 tinct but very minute dots and freckles of cliestnut-red, wliicli are darker 

 :ind more thickly disposed on the larger end, where they are iuter- 

 iiiiiigled with a few underlying markings of dull violet^grey. Dimensions 

 m inches: (1) -92 x -67, (2) -9 x -67 (Nortii). 



Ohservdtidus. — Tliis exceedingly fine and rare species of Honeyeater 

 apjxsai-s partial to the creek scrubs in the Rockingham Bay district, 

 where Mr. Kendall Broadbent first collected a small parcel. One speci- 

 MK-n lie gave to Mr. Waller, of Brisbane, who in turn forwarded it to 

 Gould, who described and figured it as P. fliivixtiiaUi. 



In some notes sent to the Zoological Society (1868), Dr. Ramsay 

 mentioned this bird as being the young of P. versicolor, from a single 

 specimen collected by Mr. Edward Spalding at Cardwell. Subsequently, 

 the same collector shot several fine specimens of the bird near Cooktown. 

 wliicii the Doctor described before the Linncan Society of New South 

 Wales, 25th January, 1875, naming the bird Pti/ufix niacleayaiui. in 

 honour of the President. The description was published 27th April 

 following, therefore the Australian name takes precedence of Gould's 

 fill riair lata, which was not described till later.* 



In my paper, " Nests and Eggs of the Honeyeatei-s,"t I fell into 

 the same error as the British Museum " Catalogue, " by stating that 

 P. maclcai/ana was synonymous with P. versicolor ; I should have said 

 with flavistriata, to wliich it is more closely allied. 



■P.Z.S. iS75,p. 315. 

 t Proc. Austn. Assoc, vol vii., p. 614. 



