INSESSORES. 503 



Sp. 306. PTILOTIS LEWINIT, Swainson. 



Lewin's Honey-eater. 



Meliphaga chrysotis, Lewin^ Birds of New Holl., pi. 5. 

 Ptilotis lewinii, Swains. Class, of Birds, vol. ii. p. 320. 

 Spot-eared Creeper, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 244. 



Ptilotis chrysotis, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. iv. pi. 32. 



This bird is certainly the Meliphaga chrysotis of Lewin's 

 " Birds of New Holland," where it is beautifully figured, but 

 it is equally certain that it does not correspond with Latham's 

 description of his CertJiia chrysotis as given in his " General 

 History ; " neither is it figured by Vieillot in his " Oiseaux 

 Dores," to which Latham refers. I shall, therefore, adopt 

 the specific name Lewinii proposed for it by Swainson. 



The Yellow-eared Honey-eater is very common in New 

 South Wales, where it inhabits the thick brushes. I found it 

 especially abundant in all parts of the river Hunter, as well as 

 on the Liverpool and other ranges. No examples came under 

 my notice in South Australia, and I do not believe that it 

 extends so far to the westward. In its habits and disposition 

 it assimilates very closely to the Ptilotis Jlaviyida of Tasmania. 

 It prefers low shrubby trees to those of a larger growth. 

 I have often been permitted to approach within a few yards 

 of it while threading the dense brushes without causing it 

 the least alarm. Like the rest of its genus, this species feeds 

 on insects, the pollen of flowers, and occasionally fruits and 

 berries. It is not celebrated for the richness of its notes or 

 for the volubility of its song, but its presence, when not visible 

 among the foliage, is always to be detected by the loud ringing 

 whistle note, which it continually pours forth dm'ing the 

 months of spring and summer. 



The sexes are alike in colom*, but the female presents the 

 same disparity of size that is observable between the sexes of 

 the other species of the genus ; the young at an early age 



