139 



PTILOTIS. 



had one e^<' m it. The birds are plentiful enough, but the nests are not easy to find, so far I 

 e s ::ered the., by following birds with nesting material in their ^il s, and watc .ng h. 

 destination up the side of the range. They seenr careless as to t^e tune they budd for ha. e 

 observed fledged young in May." Three adult specimens obtamed by Dr. Chenery on the ist 

 M^y xgo'and re'ceivrd in the'flesh by the Trustees of the Australian Museum hve days later, 

 had the bills black and the legs and feet dark fleshy-grey. 



Dr A AI. Morgan referring to the above trip to the Gawler Ranges in August 1902, sends 

 me the' following note :-"P^.-/.^» pUnmda was very numerous in the gums m a creek a 

 Con -ridnty anl seen occasionally in £../,,. till past Nonning At the former p ace a ne. 

 was found on the +th August, 1902, in an overhangmg branch ot a gum. It was built o dry 

 rirems and wool intermixed, studded outside with old white spiders' cocoons, and hned 

 inside with wool and horse-hair; it contained two fresh eggs. 



The eggs are usually two, sometimes three in number for a sitting, oval m fo-'^^^^^e^ 

 bein. close grained, smooth and almost lustreless. They vary from a fleshy-buff to a pale 

 sdmon CO o:r whic; passes into a darker hue on the larger end, and are very sparmgly sprinkled 

 S"ver the shell with minute irregular shaped markings of different shades of chestnut-red. A 

 i w taken by Dr. Chenery and Dr. Morgan, on the 4th August, 1902, at Concipidney, So^i h 

 Australia, measure as follows .-Length (A) 0-76 x 0-58 inches; (B) 0-78 . 0-59 -ches. 1 he 

 eg.s of this species are not unlike very pale varieties of the eggs of PUloUs fusuu 



Youn. birds resemble the adults, but most of the feathers on the hind neck, back and rump 



are liVh^ f^lvous-brown, as are also most of the upper wing-coverts, there is only a s ight indica- 



Znil dark brown wash at the tips of the ear-coverts, and the patch of bright yellow plumes 



n he^des of the neck is much smaller ; all the under surface is dull -^-psh-white faintly tinged 



with yellow, and the feathers on the upper breast are washed with pale fulvous-brown. 



It will be seen from the preceding notes that the breeding season extends fron, August until 



birds in the same month. 



Ptilotis auricomis. 



YELLOW-TUFTED HONEY-EATER. 



Muscicapa auricomis, Lath. Lid. Oni., Suppl., p. xlix. (1801). 



, , 1.. A , M Vol IV Pl 37 (18i8); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr,, Vol. 

 Ptilotis auricomis, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol.. Vol. IV., pl. ^' ^i« )> 



I p ,Ml (1865) ; Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. LX., p. 242 (I6b4). 

 ADULT ....-6er..ralcoIor.r abo.e olire-bro.u: upper .iug-co.erts and quills brou-n, externally 

 ...^:::^^^-.Uo..^^Ufeat.rs.^^^^^^^^^ 



^itk roMte at the tip on tUe inner ^.eb, tk.se marg^ns ^ncreas^ng^n -'- ;- J^ ^ sides of ike 

 forehead, crou-u of .e head and '- --^^ j^ ^^ tuJl^l: ^ ^ ^^^roJrich 

 head and the ear-coverts jet-black; a tuft of lengthened plu 



^ith oli.e; centre of the abdomen and under taU-co.erts dull yellou /-^' / ^^.^_ 



arey ■ iris dark-bro.rn. Total length rn the flesh rS. ^nches, u.ng . J, ta^l . o, , 



o- 7 • I „,„„„■ fn th- m<ih' hnt slightly smalh-r. Wu,g .ylo ladi^'s. 

 Adult female — Snmhir ,n I'lmnagr to tlu )»'" , ' J J 



Distributu.n-Souiherr^ Queensland, New South Wales, A'ictoria. 



