108 



MELIPHAGID.E. 



September and the four following months constitute the usual breeding season of this species 

 in New South Wales. In company with Mr. S. W. Moore, and his son, Mr. W. L. Moore, at 

 Waterfall, on the and January, 1899, the latter found a nest with two partially incubated eggs. 

 In the same locality Mr. \\'. L. Moore found a nest on the 12th January, containing two 

 heavily incubated eggs and a recently hatched young bird, which he believed was a Pallid 

 Cuckoo. At Leura he found a new nest and saw the birds at it, on the 20th January, 1900. 



At Copmanhurst, Mr. George Savidge showed me a set of two eggs taken by him on the 

 27th December, 1^94, also an egg of the Pallid Cuckoo, found in the same nest. Another nest 

 of Lewin's Honey-eater he examined, contained a young Pallid Cuckoo, and he saw an adult 

 Pallid Cuckoo leave the bush in which the nest was placed. Later on he forwarded me a 

 photograph of a nest taken on the 2nd November, 1902, in an orange tree in his garden at 

 Copmanhurst, containing two fresh eggs. The nest is somewhat similar to the one found at 

 Chatswood, but pieces of white paper are principally used in its outer construction. E\idently, 

 he informs me, the same pair of birds built in the tree again, for he took fresh eggs from a nest 

 in it on the 30th December, 1902. 



Ptilotis notata. 



YELLOW SPOT HONEY-EATER. 

 PtUotix iiolat,!, Gould, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 3rd Ser., Vol. XX., p. 269 (1867); vL, 8uppl. Bds 



Austr., fol. pi. 41 (18G9). 

 PtHiitis iti,,ih,,/,i. (/nni) Gadow, Cat Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. IX, p. 227 (1884) ; North, Proc. Linn. 



Soc. N.S W , 2nd S,-,-.. Vol. IX , p. .S!) (1894). 



Adult male— L>/.'- Ih>- (ulult umli' o/'PtILOTIS LF.WINI, Swainson, Iml sukiHiT. mal hin-'uni till' 

 vji/H'T jiKr/.o Ir-ss <l',st',,irtJii tiiiiiril icith ijrcfit, till' hiiml porUim of ihf I'Ufr,, , -iris Iihirl'isli, tlu ii,H,iw 

 paldi uffi'Hihrrs ),<hhii1 tlir- r,ir irn-nunr ,ni'l ]i, .ivf-shipi'd [„ fnriu : ntl th,- iiuihr siirfin' nf ,1 iniiform 

 2Jalp olivc-iin,). Tnfnl Inujlli ni ihr jl,sl, IrS n,rh,:<, irliKJ ■',■■',, t'i',1 .'S, I, ',11 (f7\ /„rsus 0?o. 



Adult FE'SIALE— SiniiJcrr In jiIiiiikhjc til fill- iiiif/i', liiif siiiiil/ir. 



Disiributiini — North-eastern (Queensland. 

 ^ I(^HE present species is a representative oi Ptilotis h-u tin. in the north-eastern portions of 

 JL the .Australian continent, its range e.xtending to the islands of Torres Strait. These 

 species inosculate in the neighbourhood of Cairns. When compared with P. Icanni in addition 

 to its smaller size, it may be chiefly distinguished by having the basal portion of the ear-coverts 

 blackish, not blackish-silvery or steel grey ; in some specimens a blackish wash also extends 

 around the yellow patch of feathers behind the ear-coverts, which is narrower and of dififerent 

 form. The under parts too, are of a lighter uniform olive-grey, and the feathers on the fore 

 neck and breast have not that sheen on their margins as is seen in adult specimens of P. Icu'iui, 

 when held away from the light. Gould's figures of F'tilotis notata in his "Supplement to the 

 Birds of Australia are somewhat misleading, as they show the fore neck and breast distinctly 

 streaked, whereas they are uniform. The wing-measurement of an adult male and fe?nale 

 obtained near Cairns is respectively 3-25 inches and 2-9 inches. The vernacular name too, gi\en 

 it by Gou!d tends to give one the erroneous impression that it is a yellow spotted Honey-eater. 

 Certainly it has a yellow spot on each side of the head, but the remainder of the plumage is 

 uniform. 



During the Voyage of the Chevert in 1875, Mr. George Masters states" that Ptilotis notata 

 was common at Cape York and all the wooded islands of Torres Strait, eight specimens being 



♦ Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. I., p. 55 (1S77). 



