137 



Ptilotis plumula. 



PLUMED HONEY-EATER. 



Ptilotis plumulus, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1840, p. 150: u^., Eds. Austr., fol., Vol. IV., pi. 40(1848). 



Ptilotis plumula, Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr. Vol. I., p. 516 (1865); Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., 



Vol. IX., p. 245 (1884); North, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W,, Vol. XXX., p. 260 (1905). 



Adult m.\le — General colour above pale olife-yelloir, distinctly tinyid with grey on the mantle, 

 scapulars, and back, and passing into a clearer olive-yelloiv on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; upper 

 wing-coverts like the back; quills dark brown externally margined tvith olive-yellow ; tail feathers 

 dark brown, the central pair strongly washed and the outer webs of the remainder margined with 

 olive-yellow; a band on the forehead light grey, passing into bright olive-yellow on the crown and sides 

 of the head; lores aiid feathers i7i front of the eye blackish; ear-coverts dull olive-yellozv, blackish-brown 

 at the tips forming a narrow but distinct line, lohich is folloived by a fan-shaped patch of bright yellow 

 plumes spreading over the sides of the neck; cheeks, chin, throat, fore neck and upper breast yellmvish- 

 grey, the lower throat being of a richer shade of yellow, also the margins of the feathers on the fore neck 

 and upper breast, giving the centres a faintly streaked appearance ; loiver breast and abdomen yellowish- 

 white ivith an almost imperceptible tinge ofbnff; under tail-coverts pale yelloiv; "bill black; legs and 

 feet light slate colour tinged with brown; iris dark brown" (Chenery). 7'otal length in thefesh frS 

 incites, wing S'l, tail ..''S, bill O'o, tarsus 0'7S. 



Adult fem.\le — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distribution — Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia. 

 /~|^HE Plumed Honey-eater is often found frequenting the same situations as the preceding 

 J- species, and the numerous specimens I have examined were all obtained in the southern 

 portion of the continent. I have never seen any record of a specimen being procured in the 

 Northern Territory of South Australia ; not a single example was included in the large collections 

 made by Mr. A. Morton at Port Darwin and Port Essington, or by the late Mr. Edward Spalding 

 and Dr. Loria at Port Darwin, nor by Mr. F. Schultze, who collected over four hundred bird 

 skins in different parts of the Northern Territory, on behalf of the South Australian Museum, 

 Adelaide. Dr. Ramsay informs me that the inclusion of this species in the Port Darwin and 

 Port Essington Districts in his "Tabular List of Australian Birds,"* is probably an error, for 

 he has no recollection of seeing or hearing of an example being obtained in the Northern 

 Territory. Mr. C. W. De\'isf has recorded it in a collection of birds made by Mr. Kendal 

 Broadbent at the mouth of the Norman River, Gulf District, Queensland. Mr. Broadbent 

 records it from Chinchilla, in Southern Queensland,* and a bird collected by him above Yaamba 

 on the Fitzroy River is also referred to this species. 



I have received five unlocalized specimens for examination from the Trustees of the South 

 Australian INIuseum, Adelaide, and Mr. A. Zietz, the Assistant Director, informs me that 

 specimens were received at that Institution in 1S73 from the Gawler Ranges, also from Overland 

 Corner in 1883, collected by the late Mr. F. \V. Andrews. The latter locality is situated on the 

 Murray River, and is about forty miles from the \'ictorian border. Most of the specimens in 

 the Australian Musuem collection were collected by Mr. K. Broadbent near Port Augusta, 

 South Australia. From the same State also is an adult male and female obtained by Mr. G. 

 Masters in the Flinders Range in November, 1865. There is also an adult male in the Australian 

 Museum collection obtained by the late Mr. K. H. Bennett, at Moolah Station, Western New 

 South Wales, in July, 1882, with which he sent the following note: — "This bird is only met with 



• Tab. List Austr. Bds., p. 13 (188S). 

 t Proc. Roy, Soc. Queensld , Vol. I, p 156 (1SS4). ; Loc cit., Vol . II,. p, 123 (18S5). 



