aqQ nests and eggs of AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



I have no doubt that the bird seen by the Calvert Expedition on the 

 southern edge of the great Nortli-west desert, where young and eggs 

 were noted in July and August (1896) and recorded as P. penicillata, 

 was referable to the Carter Honey eater. 



However, in its habits it very much resembles F. penicillata. 

 Mr. Carter writes : " It is a vei-y common bird on the Gascoyne River, 

 and from that locality northward to here (Point Cloates), wherever 

 white-gums (Eumlypts) are found, close to pool or well. I never saw 

 it away from water. It has a pleasing, Uquid, warbling chirrup, uttered 

 from daylight till dark, and is very inquisitive and aggressive. It will 

 come and peep at you when you are camped, scolding in a harsh key ; 

 and is very quick at mobbing Hawks, Owls or cats. The alarm note of 

 one bird calls up all within earshot." 



340. — Ptilotis ornata, Gould. — (314) 

 YELLOW-PLUMED HONEYEATER. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol , vol. iv., pi. 39. 



Rcjercnce . —CaX . Birds Brit. Mus., vol. ix., p. 244. 



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

 Handbook, vol. i , p. 515 (1865) ; North : Austn. Mus Cat , p 204 

 (1889) ; Campbell : Proc. Austn. Assoc, vol. vii., p. 625 (i8g8) 



Geographical Distrihutioti. — Victoria (probably the South-west 

 interior of New South Wales), South and West Australia. 



Neit. — Cup-shaped, neat, small ; constructed lightly of fine greenish 

 grass, matted or intermixed with spiders' cocoons and wool ; no particular 

 lining inside except a few downy seeds, &c., on the bottom ; usually 

 suspended on a parasitical climber, bush, or small tree. Dimensions 

 over all, 2A inches by 1| inches in depth; egg cavity, 1| inches across 

 by 1 s inches deep. 



E<igs. — Clutch, two to three ; oval or stout oval in shape ; 

 texture fine; surface, faint trace of gloss; colour, beautiful, being rich 

 salmon pink, distinctly blotched and spotted, particularly about the 

 apex, with rich pinkish-brown and dull gi'ey markings. Dimensions of 

 a clutch in inches : (1) '82 x -61, (2) -82 x -61, (3) -81 x -6. (Plate 14.) 



The eggs, like those of the Lesser Yellow-spotted Honeyeater 

 (P. gracilis) of Northern Queensland, are amongst the most richly- 

 coloiured of the Pt Holes. 



Observations. —This very elegant and attractive Honeyeater, or, as 

 Gould well named it, the Graceful, has a fair range of ha.bitat over the 

 drier and more inland provinces from Victoria to Western Australia,* 



* I find the birds from Western Australia are larger and lighter in colour 

 compared with those from Victoria. 



