MELITUREPTUS. 195 



Although I have made every effort, I have never procured another set, and have only once 

 seen the bird since at Wambangalang, during a period of twelve years. Eggs taken by me in 

 1881-2, and attributed to this species, I have since ascertained by shooting the birds, were in 

 reality the eggs oi Ptilotis fusca." 



The wing-n:easurement of adult males varies from 3-3 to 3-5 inches. 



The nest taken by Mr. Lane is a deep-shaped structure, attached by the rim to some thin 

 drooping leafy twigs of a Eucalyptus ; outwardly it is formed of fine shreds of red stringy -bark, 

 grasses, and wool, closely interwoven and felted together, the inside being thickly lined with 

 opossum fur. It is compact and well made, measuring e.xternally about two inches and three 

 quarters in diameter by nearly three inches in depth, the inner cup measuring two inches in 

 diameter by two inches and a tenth in depth. The nest taken by Mr. E. Angove at Tea-tree 

 Gully, near Adelaide, is of the same average measurements, but is constructed throughout of 

 dried grasses, a small quantity of bark fibre, and white cow-hair, the inside being thickly lined 

 with the latter material. There is also another nest from the same locality in the Group 

 Collection of the Australian Museum, presented by Mr. A. Zietz, the Assistant Director of the 

 South Australian Museum. 



The eggs are two in number for a sitting, oval in form, the shell being close-grained, 

 smooth, and lustreless. Those taken by Mr. Lane are of a salmon ground colour, with reddish 

 spots and blotches of different shades, being larger at the thicker end, where a few small and 

 nearly obsolete markings of pale purplish-grey appear. The ground colour of one specimen is 

 very much paler, rendering the markings more distinct ; several of them on the darker ground- 

 coloured specimen are penumbra), or look as if laid on another of a lighter hue. Length (A) 

 0-82 X 0-59 inches; (8)0-82 x o-6 inches. Of a set of two in the Australian Museum collection 

 taken by Mr. E. Angove at Tea-tree Gully, near Adelaide, one is of a faint reddish flesh-ground 

 colour, and of a slightly richer shade on the thicker end, where there are dots, spots and blotches 

 of purplish-red and similar underlying markings of purplish-grey, with a few small flecks and 

 dots scattered over the remainder of the shell. The other specimen is of a pale fleshy-white 

 ground colour, with small dots, flecks, short streaks, and irregular linear markings of light 

 purplish-red intermingled with a few underlying dots and spots of dull purplish-grey, the 

 markings as usual predominating on the thicker end. The eggs measure alike: — Length 

 077 X 0-57 inches. 



Young birds have the upper parts faint rufous-brown, with dull grey bases to the feathers, 

 which show through here and there ; wings brown, the upper wing-coverts and secondaries 

 with dull rufous-brown margins; tail feathers brown, margined with yellowish-olive, more 

 distinctly on the central ones, and passmg into dull rufous-brown around the tips ; head, ear- 

 coverts, and hind-neck faint rufous-brown, with a white band on the nape, dull rufous in 

 the central portion; lores and tips of ear-coverts blackish; all the under surface and under 

 tail-coverts dull white; chin, centre of throat, and fore neck washed with light rufous-brown. 

 Wing, 3 inches. 



The last trace of immaturity in nearly adult birds is usually exhibited on the crown of the 

 head, where a few pale brown feathers are intermingled with the black ones. Wing, y^ inches. 



Melithreptus laetior. 



YELLOW-BACKED HONEY-EATER. 



Melithreptus laetior, Gould, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., sen. 4, Vol. XVI., p. 287 (187.5); id., Bds. 



New Guin., Vol. IIL, pi. 40 (1875-88); North, Vict. Nat., Vol. XVI., p. 12 (1899). 



Adult male — General colour above bright yellow, the back distinctly washed with olive; tvings 

 brown, the lesser and median winy-r.overts of a slightly darker shade : the qtiills narrowly edged 



