GLYCYPIIILA. 



73 



I found the nest figured at Middle Harbour on the 29th January, 1899, by flushing the bird 

 almost at my feet. It contained two eggs in an advanced stage of incubation. Approaching 

 the nest cautiously half an hour later, I got within a yard of the female who sat watching me, 

 and did not forsake her eggs until I attempted to get still nearer to her. The nest was built 

 between several rigid leafy stems of an Isopogon ancathifolia, the bottom of the structure being 

 eight inches from the ground. This shrub is also a favourite nesting site for Hylacola pyrrhopygia. 



Externally the nest is formed of strips 

 of bark, some being broad and short, 

 others narrow and long completely 

 encircling the structure, inside it is 

 lined with fine dried grasses and at 

 the bottom with the red velvety tufts 

 from Banhiia cones, intermingled 

 with a few small white flowers. 

 Externally it measures three inches 

 and a half in diameter by three inches 

 and three-quarters in depth, the inner 

 cup measuring two inches in diameter 

 by two inches in depth. 



The eggs are usually two, rarely 

 three in number for a sitting, oval, 

 rounded oval, or elongate oval in form 

 the shell being close-grained, smooth, 

 and lustreless, and vary considerably 

 in the disposition of their markings. 

 They are pure white and are sparingly 

 dotted and spotted with different 

 shades, varying from pale chestnut- 

 brown to rich red; on many specimens 

 the markings are penumbral, and 

 they are as a rule confined to the 

 larger end. Some have small faint 

 chestnut-brown blotches with darker 

 NicsT OF TiiK ruLvous-n;ONTED liONEY-EATER. overlying dots and spots, and I have 



found one egg of a set pure white, and entirely devoid of markings. Typically the eggs may be 

 distinguished from those of any other Honey-eater by the sparseness and washed out appearance 

 of their markings, and approach more closely a variety of the egg of Ptilotis lencotis. Specimens 

 however, may be found with the markings of a rich red. A set of two taken at Middle Harbour, 

 on the 1st September, 1900, measures: — Length (.\) 0-87 x 0-62 inches; (B) o-88 x o'62 

 inches. A set of three in the .\ustralian Museum collection, taken by Mr. A. F. B. Hull, at 

 Freshwater, near Manly, on the 8th November, 1903, measures: — Length (A) 0-77 x o'6i 

 inches ; (B) o-8 x 0-62 inches ; (C) o-8 x 0-62 inches. 



Young birds resemble the adult but have most of the feathers of the upper parts narrowly 

 centred with whity-brown and the wings and tail feathers duller in colour; the forehead only 

 has a reddish-fulvous wash; a small spot in front of the eye and the ear-coverts brown; chin and 

 upper throat pale yellow ; lower throat dull white; remainder of the under surface browner than 

 that in the adult with sagittate markings of blackish-brown on some of the feathers on the upper 

 breast. Wing 3 inches. The last trace of immaturity is exhibited in a few yellow feathers on 

 the centre of the upper throat. 



