516 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



tail-feathers olive ; back olive-brown ; all the under surface 

 greyish white, each feather having a longitudinal mark of 

 brown down the centre ; under tail-coverts lighter ; on each 

 side of the neck a lengthened tuft of rich yellow feathers ; 

 eye black, surrounded in the male by a narrow black eyelash 

 except for a third of the space, behind which is yellow ; feet 

 purplish brown ; bill black. 



Total length 6 J inches ; bill f ; wing 3f ; tail ^l ; tarsi f . 



Sp. 315. PTILOTIS PLUMULA, Gould. 



Plumed Ptilotis. 



Ptilotis plumulus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part viii, p. 150. 

 Meliphaga plumula, Gray, Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 122, Meliphaga, 

 sp. 11. 



Ptilotis plumulus, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. iv. pi. 40. 



In size this species is rather less than Ptilotis ornata, and, 

 independently of the accessory black tuft on the sides of the 

 neck, the breast is of more delicate and paler colour, with the 

 feathers much more faintly marked with brown down the 

 centre. All the specimens I have seen were collected in the 

 district of York, about 60 miles eastward of Swan River, 

 where it inhabits the white-gum forests, resorting to the tops 

 of the highest trees, and is seldom to be seen on the ground. 

 Its note is much varied, consisting of a loud shrill shake, 

 somewhat resembling the sportsman's pea-whistle, continued 

 without intermission for a great length of time. When dis- 

 turbed it flits among the branches with a quick darting flight ; 

 while at other times it soars from tree to tree with the most 

 graceful and easy movement. 



Its small, elegant, cup- shaped nest is suspended from a 

 slender horizontal branch, frequently so close to the ground 

 as to be reached by the hand ; it is formed of dried grasses 

 lined with soft cotton-like buds of flowers. The breeding- 

 season continues from October to Januarv : the esrsrs beino- 



