MELITHREPTUS. 193 



The eff^s are usually three, sometunes only two, in number for a sitting, oval in form, the 

 shell being close-grained, smooth, and lustreless. A set of three taken on the 24th December, 

 1900, by Dr. Chenery, are of a fleshy-buff ground colour, which is dotted and spotted with reddish 

 chestnut, one specimen being almost uniformly marked over its surface, another has a well- 

 defined zone on the thicker end, the spots being larger on one side than the other; the third 

 specimen has the markings scattered over the larger end, where in one place they assume the 

 form of large penumbral blotches. Length (A) 07 x o'54 inches; (B) o'Sg x 0-55 inches; 

 (C) 0-7 X 0-54 inches. A set of three in the collection of Mr. Chas. French, Junr., vary in 

 ground colour from fleshy-white to fleshy-buff, being of a darker shade on the larger end, where 

 they are minutely freckled and boldly spotted with rich purplish-red, intermingled with a few 

 underlying spots of dull purplish-grey on the larger end: — Length (A) 0-78 x o'58mches; 

 (B) o'78 X 0-55 inches; (C) 075 x 0-51 inches. A set of two in the Australian Museum 

 collection taken by Mr. E. Angove on the ist September, igo6, at Pellering Scrub, on the 

 Murray River, South Australia, measures: — Length (A) 07 x 0-56 inches; (B) 072 x 0-53 

 inches. This set also contains an egg of the Pallid Cuckoo. 



The usual breeding season of the Short-billed Honey-eater in south-eastern Australia 

 commences at the latter end of August or early in September, and continues over the four 

 following months. The nest, however, here figured, must have been commenced early in July, 

 but the autumn and early winter months of 1906 were very dry, and several species of Honey- 

 eaters bred unusually early that year in the neighbourhood of Sydney. 



A closely allied form of this species, McUthi'cptns ningiiimstrh'' is found on Kangaroo Island, 

 South Australia. 



Melithreptus gularis. 



BLACK-THROATED UONEY-EATER. 

 Ilcematops gularis, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1836, p. 144. 



Melithreptus gularis, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. IV., pi, 71 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., 

 Vol. I., p. 566 (1865); Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus , Vol. IX., p 205 (1884). 



Adult male — General colour above olive-yellow, becoming a clearer yellow on the rump, the hind 

 neck paler and having a slight ochreous wash; wings brown, the lesser and median upper wing-coverts 

 of a slightly darker shade; the primaries narrowly edged and the secondaries externally margined (the 

 latter less distinctly) with whitish-grey ; tail feathers brown margined with whitish-grey; forehead, 

 crotvn of head, lores, a line of feathers below the eye, the ear-coverts and upper portion of hind neck 

 black, the latter separated by a buffy-iohite band on the nape which passes into pure white on either 

 side of the nape wJiere it extends to the bare skin behind the eye; cheeks and sides of throat white; 

 chin and centre of tipper throat blackish, passing into a dull blackish-grey on the lower throat, and pale 

 greyish-brown on the fore neck and breast; sides of the breast and abdomen creamy-brown : centre of the 

 lower breast and abdomen dull white; under tail coverts dull white; bill black; legs and feet dark 

 yellow; iris hazel; bare skin above and behind the eye deep opal-blue or hluish-green. Total length in 

 the flesh 6-75 inches, wing 3'4, tail 2'7, bill 0-68, tarstis 0-75. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male, but slightly smaller. 



Distribution — Queensland, New South Wales, \'ictoria, South Australia, Western Australia. 



/T^HE Black-throated Honey-eater is widely distributed over the Australian continent, and 



JL may be met with in favourable situations on the coast, as well as far inland. Mr. George 



Masters, collecting on behalf of the Trustees of the Australian Museum, obtained specimens at 



' North, Rec. Austr. Mus., Vol. VI., p. 20, pi. v., fig 2 (1905). 



