100 MKLIPHAGID*. 



Myzomela pectoralis. 



BANDED HONEY-EATER. 

 Myzomela pectoralis, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1840, p. 170; id., Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. IV., pi. 65 

 (1848); id., Haiidbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 5-57 (1865); Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. 

 IX., p. 138 (1881). 



Adult male — General colour above including the forehead, croivn of the head and hind neck 

 black; feathers of the lower back grey, irilh blackish submarginal tips; rump and u}7per tail-coverts 

 white; wings and tail black; all the under surface including the sides of the neck pure white, crossed 

 on the chest with a narrow but well defned crescentic black band; hill, legs and feet (of skin) black. 

 Total length: Jf'5 inches, iving 2'7, tail IS, bill O'o, tarsus 0:55. 



Adult female l—^ivratVar in plumage to tlie male, but with the margins of the feathers on 

 the back buff. 



Distribution — North-western Australia, Northern Territory of South Australia, Queensland. 

 ^I^HE Banded Honey-eater is an inhabitant of the northern portions of the continent, the 

 -L type being described by Gould from a specimen obtained by the late Mr. Bynoe on the 

 north-west coast. The late Mr. T. H. Bowyer-Bower, and Mr. E. J. Cairn obtained specimens 

 near Derby, in North-western Australia, and Mr. G. A. Keartland secured e.xamples near the 

 junction of the Fitzroy and JMargaret Rivers. Mr. Alex. Morton, collecting on behalf of the 

 Trustees of the Australian Museum, procured specimens at Port Essington, Mr. J. A. Thorpe and 

 Mr. G. Masters obtained it at Cape York, and Mr. W. E. Armit near the shores of the Gulf of 

 Carpentaria. Mr. G. A. Keartland has recei\ed its eggs taken at Marton near Cooktown, 

 Queensland, and there are skins in the Australian Museum collection obtained by Mr. K. 

 Broadbent near Cardwell, and by Mr. George Masters as far south as Port Denison. 



Both Gould and Mr. Keartland obtained otherwise mature birds, except some of the 

 feathers on the back being brown or buff. Whether this is a se.xual distinction as Gould suggests, 

 I am unable to state from the material before me, but excludmg the young and immature birds, 

 the brown or buff margins to some of the feathers of the back are more or less indicated in all 

 the specimens 1 have examined, but the one adult male procured by Mr. Masters at Port Denison. 



Mr. G. A. Keartland writes me: — "In the neighbourhood of the Fitzroy and Margaret 

 Rivers, and Derby in North-western Australia Myzomela pectoralis was only found in the vicinity 

 of pools, wells or rivers. They drink frequently, and when flying to water exhibit the same 

 peculiar jerky flight as Ephthianura alhifrons. The trough at the well in the vicinity of our camp 

 at the Telegraph Station near the Fitzroy River was frequently visited by these birds and I soon 

 obtained specimens for my collection. When the Eucalypti were in blossom along the river 

 courses, they assembled in numbers in company with Ptilotis flavcscens and several other species 

 of small Honey-eaters. They construct a small cup-shaped nest formed only of fine grass and 

 horsehair which is attached at the rim to a thin forked horizontal twig of a Bauhinia or any 

 suitable shrub. This bird utters a faint chirping note which is seldom heard."' 



Mr. Keartland has also kindly sent me a set of the eggs of this species for examination, 

 together with a note received from Mr. Wm. Munt, by whom they were taken : — "A nest of the 

 Banded Honey-eater found on the ijtii February, 1900, at Marton, about five miles from 

 Cooktown, Queensland, was a very small open cup-shaped structure, formed of fine strips of tea- 

 tree bark and cobweb, and was fastened by the rim to a thin horizontal fork of a broad-leaved 

 Melaleuca, at an height of ten feet from the ground. The nest measured externally about one 

 inch and a half in diameter by one inch in depth, and the eggs could be seen from underneath 

 the frail structure." 



