404 



NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



moderately marked with distinct roundish spots of pinkish-brown 

 and piu-phsh-gi-oy. Sometimes, especially more inland, the ground- 

 colour is pure wliite and the markings few and faint. Dimensions of a 

 clutch in inches : (1) -86 x -59, (2) -84 x -58, (3) -83 x -58. 



Observations. — The principal habitat of this familiar Honeyeater 

 may, roughly speaking, be said to be the south-east. 



The bird is common in Victoria, where it appears to be one of the 

 few native birds that thrives, or, at all events, is not driven back by 

 the advance of civilisation ; in fact its numbers have rather increased 

 in the pai-ks and gardens in the vicinity of Melbourne. Every school- 

 boy about Melbourne knows what a " Greenie " — the White-plumed 

 Honeyeater — is. It takes its name from small tufts of white silky 

 feathers behind the ears. The upper surface is yellowish-grey, and the 

 under siu'face brownish in tone. 



The White-plumed Honeyeater, like all the members of its genus, 

 is an active little creatui'e, and a trifle pugnacious. Single-handed, it 

 easily knocks a Sparrow on its back. Should a large bird or natiu-al 

 enemy appear, this Honeyeater sets up a shrill, rapid, monotonous 

 " pee-pee-pee " alarm, which is immediately taken up by all the species 

 in the ncighboiu'hood. The Honeyeatei-s then congregate about where 

 the intnider is perched, screech and scold it till it is fairly scared, and 

 glad to depart. 



Gould describes the nest of this species, but not the eggs, except that 

 they are three in number. He quoted from a South Australian 

 coiTespondent, who wrote : " The Ptilotis: penicillafa builds in the acacia.s 

 close to my house at Collingrove, near Angaston. I can sit at dinner 

 and watch the j'oung ones being fed. One female sat hatching close 

 to the window, with the strong light of a moderator lamp shining on 

 her at night." 



A nest of the White-plumed Honeyeater containing a set of beautiful 

 fleshy-white eggs, with pronounced spots of pinkish-brown, is indeed, 

 although common, amongst the most beautiful things in a collector's 

 cabinet. 



On the Murray I have found the eggs of the White-plumed Honey- 

 eater almost white, and with very few markings. Still further afield, 

 in Centra] Australia, Mr. G. A. Keartland, in the Report of the Honi 

 Scientific Expedition, states he also took eggs of this species similar in 

 character. 



Only on one occasion have I found the laige flesh-coloured egg of the 

 Pallid Cuckoo (C. pnllidux) in a nest of tlie White-plumed Honeyeater. 



The principal breeding months are September to December. How- 

 ever, the extreme hmits of the season ma\- be taken as from June or 

 July to February. 



