iVESTS AND EGGS OF AVSTRAUAN BIRDS. 409 



Xegt. — Cup-shaped, somewhat shallow ; lightly constructed of shreds 

 of bark and a little gra.st,, matted together with yoUowisii-white spiders' 

 cocoons; inside lined with light brownish-colouied bark; usually sus- 

 pended in a low tree ; not infrequently in orange or lemon trees in an 

 orchiU'd. Dimensions over all, 3i inches by 2 inches in depth; egg 

 cavity, 2| inches across by 1^ inches deep. 



Eggs. — Clut-ch, two ; inchned to oval in form ; textui-e fine ; 

 surface without gloss ; colour, warm-white, marked chiefly about the 

 ;ipex with blotches of light-chestnut or pinkish-brown, and light 

 purplish-brown. The same chai-acter of colouring as is generally found 

 on eggs of the Maluri (Wrens). Dimensions of a clutch in inches: 

 (1) -91 X -62, (2) -86 X -61. (Plate 14.) 



Ohserviitidtis. — The beautiful Yellow-tinted Honeyeater is restricted 

 to the coastal region of Northern Queensland, including the Gulf of 

 Caqientaria. 



As the orange and lemon trees were flowering in the orchard — a 

 somewhat neglected one — adjoining our Cardwell camp, we had ample 

 opportunities to observe many gi'accful Houeyeaters which were attracted 

 thither by the seductive nectar of the flowers. No doubt many insects 

 were devoured as well as honey. At times, especially during the 

 morning, the garden was transformed into a perfect aviai-y by the 

 presence of five or si.x kinds of Honeyeatei-s, flitting together about the 

 blossom-laden trees — the little Brown, with its cheerful song, the Dusky, 

 the Brown-backed, the Yellow-spotted, and the Yellow. Perhaps the 

 most prominent visitor for song and activity was the lovely Yellow 

 Honeyeater. The memory of our camp would be incomplete if not 

 as.sociated with the duets of loving pairs of these birds. 



A nest was discovered building in one of the orange trees, but an 

 accident befell it before it was completed. Subsequently, on the 22nd 

 September (1885), in the Acacia Vale Nurseries (Messrs. GuUiver), 

 Townsville, I found another nest containing a pair of eggs, also suspended 

 in an orange tree, at a distance of aboiit foui" or five feet from the gi'ound. 

 Further north, in the Bloomfield River district, Mr. Le Souef noticed 

 a nest containing young of this species in a mango tree that was heavily 

 laden vnth fruit, and gi-owing alongside the verandah of a dwelling ; date 

 October, 1896. 



In the " Catalogue " of the Austrahan Museimi we find it recorded 

 that Mr. J. A. Boyd fonvarded the nest and eggs of the Yellow Honey- 

 eater, which he found, 10th January, 1890, in his plantation, Herbert 

 River. The nest was mostly composed of the hair-hke fibre of the 

 rocoanut palm, and was suspended by the rim to the thin leafy twigs 

 of a cumquat (orange) tree. Mr. Boyd also stated that all the nests 

 he took were mostly composed of cocoanut fibre. Two nests were built 

 in a species of Ficu^, and were eighteen feet from the gi-ound ; another 

 was built in a mango, about eight feet from the gi-oimd. 



Breeding months, end of August or September to February. 



