180 



MELIPIIAGID.E. 



In "The Ibis,"''' Messrs. H. C. Robinson arid W. S. Laverock describe a subspecies under 

 the name of Entomyza cyanotis harterti, from specimens obtained by Mr. E. Olive near Cooktown, 

 North-eastern Queensland. The principal characters pointed out are its very much smaller size 

 and paler buff basal portion of the inner webs of the primaries. The characters of £h/o!k_)'Z(1 

 hayterti axe fairly well exhibited in a skin in the Australian Museum collection, presented by 

 Mr. E. A. C. Olive of Cooktown. It may be distinguished from either Entomyza cyanotis or E. 

 albipennis by the decided yellowish hue of the upper parts and tail, and the sulphur-yellow margins 

 of the basal portions of the outer webs of the primaries. The inner webs of the basal portion of 

 most of the primaries are pale buffy-white, reaching to the shaft ; in this respect it more closely 

 approaches E. albipennis than it does E. cyanotis. Wing 5-6 inches. 



Two sets of eggs taken by Mr. R. Hislop, |unr., at Marton, near Cooktown, on the 21st and 

 the 22nd October, 1S99, were sent as the eggs of Entomyza albipennis. The former set is very 

 much lighter in the ground colour than typical eggs of E. cyanotis taken in New South Wales, 

 being of a pale flesh colour, but similarly spotted and blotched with purplish-red, chestnut-brown 

 and underlying markings of violet-grey: — Length (A) 1-2 x 0-87 inches; (B) 1-2 x 0-85 inches. 

 The other set is precisely similar in colour to typical eggs of E. cyanotis taken in New South Wales, 

 and about tiie same average measurements: — Length (.\) 1-3 x 0-87 inches: (B) 1-29 x 0-83 

 inches. A set of two taken by Mr. 01i\e, near Cooktown, nieasures:--Length (A) 1-22 x 0-82 

 inches; (B) i"25 x o'83 inches. 



Mr. Bertie Hislop sent me the following note from Cooktown with the eggs of this Honey- 

 eater: — "With the exception of one set of Entomyza s eggs taken from a nest of the Silvery- 

 crowned Friar-bird, all I have found were taken from nests built inside old nests o( Pomatostomus. 

 On two occasions I have taken four eggs of Entomyza from one nest, but as they diflfered so much 

 in shape and markings, I think two females must have laid in the same nest. Mr. E. Olive 

 informs me that he has frequently found the eggs of Entomyza in old nests of the SiUerv-crowned 

 Friar-bird, and that he has taken them from nests constructed by the birds themselves in the 

 tops of Cocoa-nut and Pandanus palms." 



Entomyza albipennis. 



WHITE-gUILLED HOXEY-EATEi; 

 En/omyza albipennis, Gould, I'roc. Zool. .Soc, 1840, p. IG'J; id , lids. Austr., ful., Vol. IV., pi. 69 

 (1848); id, Handbk. Bds. Aust., Vol. I., p. -56:3 (186.5); Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. 

 IX., p. 2G9 (188-t). 

 Adult jiale— ZiA-e the adult male 0/ E.n'tomvza cyanotis, Latham, but liaving the basal half of' 

 the inner webs of most of the quills white, their apical portion darker, as are also the lesser and median 

 upper and under wing- coverts ; tail feathers dark brown ivashed ivitli golden-olive, more distinctly on 

 their outer webs, arid tipped with 7vhil>- more largely on llif onli-naost feathers ; "bill black; legs and 

 feel slaty-grey; bare skin around the eije cobalt, iris light broivn" — (Morton). Total length lOS 

 incites, iving .'rS, tail fS, lull I'l, tardus I'll. 



Adult fkhalr— .Similar in plumage to t/ie male. 

 Distribution — Northern Territory of South .\ustralia. 



aAHE White-quilled Honey-eater is an inhabitant of the northern portion of the continent. 

 It may be chiefly distinguished from the preceding species by the conspicuous white 

 inner webs of the basal portion of the quills and their darker tips, and darker upper and under wing- 

 coverts. The latter characters in Gould's figures of this species in his folio edition of the "Birds 



The Ibis, 1900, p. 635. 



