V °i'i n 'l HALL, Notes on Bird-skins from N.W. Australia. 43 



124. Podicipes NOV^-HOLLANDLE (Stephens), Black-throated 



Grebe. 



Podiceps gularis, Gould, Birds Aust., fol., vol. vii., pi. 81 (1843); 

 Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxvi., p. 519 (1898). 



Adult male and female, 4/2/02. 



[This species is very tame. At Ellamurd's, where they were 

 feeding upon insects within a few yards of where I was standing, 

 the female bird I unknowingly shot when it was on the nest. 

 There was an egg in the oviduct.] It seems the bird weighs 

 down the nest, which was nearly 4 inches out of the water, 

 according to Mr. Rogers. [There was a tape-worm in the intes- 

 tines of the female specimen about 9 inches in length.] 



125. Loph^thyia (Podicipes) cristata (Linnaeus), Tippet Grebe. 



Podiceps australis, Gould, Birds Aust., fol., vol. vii., pi. 80 (1844) ; 



Grant, Brit. Mus. Cat. Birds, xxvi., p. 502 (1898). 

 Lophcethyia cristata, Sharpe, Hand List of Birds, vol. i., p. 114 



(1899). 



One adult skin. 



126. Stiltia ISABELLA (Vieillot), Pratincole. 



Glareola grallaria, Gould, Handbook Birds Aust., ii., p. 243 (1865). 

 Stiltia Isabella, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxiv., p. 5 1 (1896). 



Adult females, 28/12/01. 



127. Porphyrio BELLUS (Gould), Blue Bald-Coot. 



Porphyrio bellus, Gould, Birds Aust., fol., vol. vi., pi. 70 (1841); 

 Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxiii., p. 202 (1894). 



Adult female, 27/1/02. 



[Birds now laying (27th January). Four clutches, each 5, 6, 

 6, 7 eggs. For nest the grasses are beaten down, and reeds are 

 placed upon them. Several nests of eggs found on 22/2/02 

 contained five eggs or eight eggs, and the larger number lay 

 in bowls that appeared to have been flattened by the birds to 

 hold better the eggs. The nests were bulky, being 16 inches in 

 breadth and 14 inches in depth.] 



(To be continued '.) 



The Plumage Phases of Ptilotis leucotis, Lath. 



By Robert Hall, Melbourne. 



In January, 1902, a skin of a Honey-eater was handed to me 

 by Mr. Wallen for identification. 



It did not agree with any description known to me, but by 

 appearances I considered it might be a young bird of the White- 

 eared Honey-eater. 



Subsequently I was able to secure skins that showed this 

 particular one to be a phase between the nestling and the adult. 



