1-10 



chestnut-brown on the larger end is devoid of markin;,'s. Length (A) 0-83 x 0-59 inches; (B) 

 0-8 1 X 0.57 inches. The eggs of this species more nearly resemble a small and lightly marked 

 variety of those of Ptilotis kucotis, or those of Glycyphila fulvifrons. 



Ptilotis keartlandi. 



KEAKTLAND'S HONEY-EATER. 

 Ptilolia keartlandi. North, Ibis, 1895, p. 340; Nortii and Kearll., Rep. Horn Exped. Centr. Austr., 

 Part II., Zool., p. 93, pi. 6 upper fig. (189G); id., Trans. Roy. Soc. S.A., Vol. XXII., p, 148 

 (1898); North, Vict. Nat, Vol. XVII., p. 187 (1901); Hartert, Nov. Zool,, Vol. XII., p 233 

 (1905). 

 Adult male — General colour above pale brown washed with olive-yelloiv, passing into yellowish- 

 buff oyi the rump and upper tail-coverts, the latter more distinctly margined tvilh olive-yellow; upper 

 wing-coverts like the back, slightly darker in the centre, the lesser series tinged with grey ; quills brown 

 strongly washed vAth olive-yellow on their outer webs, the apical portion of some of the longer primaries 

 and the tips of the secondaries narrowly edged with dull ashy-white ; tail feathers brown, dull whitish 

 around their tips, the central pair margined on both webs, and the remainder edged on their outer 

 webs with olive-yelloiv ; forehead, crown, and sides of the head dull grey passing into greyish brown 

 on the nape and hind neck, which is slightly washed with olive-yellow ; lores, feathers 171 front and 

 below the eye blackish; ear-coverts dark silky-grey ; extending behind and partially concealed by tlte 

 lower end of tlte ear-coverts is a conspicuous tuft of bright yellow feathers; cheeks, chin, throat, and 

 under surface pale yellow, the lower throat and fore neck of a distinctly richer yellow, each feather of 

 the latter and those on the sides of the breast having a narroiv indistinct line of brown down the centre; 

 under tail-coverts pale yellow; under wiiig-covcrts fulvous; bill black; legs and feet dark fleshy-broivn; 

 iris dark brown. Total length ii-f) inches, iving ■'r->, tail 'J:'>, bill 0'57, tarsus S. 

 Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male. 

 Distribution — Central .\ustralia, North-western Australia, Northern Queensland. 



/T^HIS very distinct species, named after Mr. George Arthur Heartland, was one of the 

 J_ novelties secured in 1894 t>y the Horn Scientific E.xpedition when in Central Australia. 

 The first example was obtained in a gorge at lUamurta, as it came in company with Emblema 

 picta. to drink at a small spring; another was procured at Daxenport Creek. Later on Mr. G. A. 

 Keartland, while a member of the Calvert Exploring Expedition in 1896-7, again met with it, 

 and obtained three adult males and a young male near Derby, North-western Australia. It 

 was also observed by members of the same expedition south of Separation Well in Western 

 Australia. Mr. Keartland informs me that while in Central Australia he only saw single birds 

 as they came to drink, also among the scattered mallee of portion of the Great Desert in Western 

 Australia, but on Jilgelly Creek, and near Derby, North-western Australia, four or live birds 

 were often noted feeding in a single tree, which were then just out in blossom at the end of .April 

 1897. Two of the adult specimens have the basal portion of the lower mandible yellow, \^'ing 

 3 to y^ inches. The young male is duller in plumage than the adult, and the patch of yellow 

 feathers below the ear-coverts is not so bright and well-defined. Wing 2-8 inches. It is 

 remarkable that it was not met with in North-western Australia, by either Mr. E. J. Cairn or 

 by the late Mr. T. H. Bowyer-Bower, who were collecting in the neighbourhood of Derby and 

 the Fitzroy River in 1886. Judging by the number of specimens obtained by different collectors 

 since, the north-western portion of the continent is the stronghold of this species. Dr. \\'. 

 Macgillivray has kindly sent me for examination at various times, birds' skins collected by his 

 brother Mr. .\. S. Macgillivray, at Leilavale Station on the Fullarton River, near Cloncurry, in 

 the Burke District, Northern Queensland. A small parcel received early in January, 1901, 



