PTILOTIS. 145 



broadly margined ivith yelloiv, passing into yellow on t/te centre, and dull yelloivish-olive on the sides 

 of the breast and flanks ; under tail-coverts dull olive broadly margined with pale yellow; bill black; 

 legs and feet deep greyish-black. Total length in the fiesh 8 inches, wing o'7i/, tail S'7o, bill 0-fJ, 

 tarsus (>■!>. 



Adult fe'HA.LE — .Similar in pliimnc/r /n /hr miih\ bit/ smaller, and tltf hlark frath"r.-< not e.rfcndiug 

 quite sii /lar diarn on the fori' ni-rk. 



Distribution — New South Wales, \'ictoria, South Austraha, Kangaroo Island, Western 

 Australia. 



®rUDGING by the localities of specimens of the White-eared Honey-eater, contained in 

 XU the Australian Museum, the Macleay Museum, the South Australian Museum, and the 

 collection of Mr. Edwin Ashby, the exclusive habitat of this species is the southern portion of 

 the Australian continent. Derby, North-western .\ustralia; the Northern Territory of South 

 Australia; and the Gulf of Carpentaria have also been included in its habitat," which is 

 undoubtedly an error, although its range may probably extend into the soutliern portions of 

 Queensland. New South Wales and Victoria are its strongholds, becoming rarer in South and 

 Western Australia, and it is not found in Central Australia. In New South Wales it inhabits 

 the dry scrubby undergrowth near the coast, humid mountain ranges, and the mallee tracts 



in the south-western portions of the State. 

 As a rule specimens obtained in mountain- 

 ous districts are larger than those obtained 

 in flat and arid situations, and the black 

 feathers extend lower down on the fore 

 neck in the former. Mr. Edwin Ashby 

 drew attention to this fact in the "Trans- 

 actions of the Royal Society of South 

 Australia,"! when referring to specimens 

 collected by him at Callion, Western Aus- 

 tralia, in August, 1901. Two of them I 

 examined from the latter locality are how- 

 ever indistinguishable in size and the extent 

 of the black feathers on the fore neck from specimens obtained in Western New South Wales, the 

 wing-measurement being alike 3'4 inches. An adult male obtained on the 6th October, 1901, by 

 Mr. F. K. Zietz, at Kangaroo Island near the South Australian coast, is slightly larger, the wing- 

 measurement being 3'5 inches, and the extent of the black feathers on the fore neck is greater 

 than on the specimens previously referred to. The wing-measurement of the largest adult male 

 now before me, obtained at Lithgow, on the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, at an ele\'ation 

 of 5,000 feet is 3"85 inches. 



With three specimens forwarded to me for examination, Mr. Edwin Ashby of South Australia, 

 sends the following note: — "The \'ictorian specimen was collected at Ballarat, a comparatively 

 wet district, the other two at Callion, Western Australia, an arid locality with low scrub, 

 Cassia and Ercmopkila bushes being the most common. I did not note it further west where 

 the timber was larger, although of course it may have been there. I have never obtained a 

 specimen in South Australia. It is remarkable that this species should be missing in suitable 

 country in South Australia, and occur again in such a dry district in Western Australia." 

 Writing later Mr. Ashby remarks: — "In April 1905, I obtained Ptilotis Icticotis in the timbered 



WHITE-KAUED HONEY-EATER. 



* Ramsay, Tab. List Austr. Bds , p. 12, (iSSS). 

 t Trans. Roy. Soc, S.A.. Vol. XXV., p. 134 (1901). 



