114 MELIPHAGID.E. 



eggs are more plentiful in September, young birds being common in October and January. At 

 Eastwood I found nests with fresh eggs on the ist January, and two days later one with young 

 recently hatched, at Canterbury, the breeding season usually extending into the first week in 

 February. Mr. S. \V. Moore found at Eastwood, three nests of the Yellow-faced Honey-eater 

 on the 14th January, two containing two eggs in each, the other three eggs. 



The eggs of the Pallid Cuckoo, are frequently deposited in the nests of the Yellow-f.aced 

 Honey-eater. :Mr. S. W. Moore on the 4th December, i8gi, also found at Haslem's Creek, an 

 egg of the Square-tailed Cuckoo, in the nest of this species. 



Ptilotis fusca. 



FUSCOUS HONEY-EATER. 

 Meliphaga fusca, Gould, Syn. Bds. Austr., Pt. IL, (1837). 

 Ptilotis fuscus, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol.. Vol. IV., pi U (1848). 



Ptilotis fusca, Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 520, (186.5): Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., 

 Vol. IX., p. 229, (1881). 



Adult male — General colour above greyish-brown, slightly tinged n'ilh olive, becoming paler 

 on the ru7np and upper tail-coverts; upper wing-coverts slightly darker than the back, the greater 

 series washed with olive-yellmu ; quills dark brown, externally margined with olive-yelloiv, the apical 

 portion of the outer webs of the primaries having narrow ashy-white edges; tail-feathers brown, 

 narrowly edged at their tips with dull ashy-white, the central pair and outer webs of the remainder 

 strongly washed with olive-yellow; forehead, crown, and sides of head greyish-brown, slightly tinged 

 with olive; around the eye a ring of small blackish brown feathers; ear-coverts greyish-brown tinged 

 with olive, some of the longer feathers tipped rvith dark brown, which is followed by a small patch of 

 pale yellow plumes; chin, throat, fore neck and breast greyish-brown, tvilh broad but very pale fulvous 

 margins, and passing into a dull fulvous-wliite on the abdomen and under tail-coverts: under wing- 

 coverts fulvous ; bill black; legs and feet fleshy-grey : iris black. Total length in the Jlesh 0;? inches, 

 wing S-2-'}, tail 2-7-'>, bill O'o, tarsus 0-7't. 



Adult female — The sexes are alike in plumage. 



Distribution— 0\ieens\a.-nA, New South Wales, Victoria. 



/"I^HE range of the Fuscous Honey-eater e.xtends over the southern half of Queensland, the 

 I whole of New South Wales, e.xcept the dry western portions of the State, and the 



greater part of Victoria. It is a common species in the neighbourhood of Sydney, where it is 

 resident throughout the year, and is tolerably numerous in the open forest country adjoining 

 the large open plains in the western portion of the State. Near the coast it may be found 

 frequenting the same situations as Ptilotis auricomis, but it gives preference more to open forest 

 lands. After a heavy thunderstorm in summer I have occasionally seen these birds taking a 

 bath in a wheel rut on the road side. 



Its food consists of nectar extracted from various flowers, and insects. During the winter 

 months I have seen numbers of these birds in company with Mdithrcptus lunulatus and Trichoglossus 

 pusillus, so busily engaged in extracting nectar from the blossom of a Stringy-bark tree that 

 repeated firing into the tree and the killing of their companions failed in any way to disturb 

 them. At Middle Harbour they may often be seen feeding on the long flowering stalks of 

 "rass trees. It is of a extremely tame and sociable disposition. When living at Ashfield, 

 small flocks of these birds during the winter months used to congregate regularly near the back 

 door of our house to be fed on bread crumbs. Should there not have been any bread on the 



