from Northern Australia. 361 



December and January seem to be their principal nesting- 

 season, and the two clutches herein described were found 

 respectively on December 29th, 1898, and January 25th, 

 1899, and they measure :—(l) A. 1-4. by 82 inch, B. 1*8 

 by 0-84; (2) A. I'G by 82 inch, B. 1-2 by 0-83. 



These eggs were exhibited before the Field Naturalists' 

 Club of Victoria on March 13th, 1899. 



4. Banded Honey-eater {Myzomela pectoralis) : Cat. B. 

 ix. p. 138. 



These little birds are fairly plentiful in Northern Australia, 

 extending from the east coast right across to the western 

 side. They are found principally in open forest-country, 

 especially where the timber is small. I noticed a few of 

 them about 30 miles inland from Cooktown, and they were 

 generally seen in pairs and had a pleasing twittering note. 

 Their nest was found on December 24th, 1898, but con- 

 tained only one egg, which is probably not a full clutch. It 

 was suspended between a fork near the end of a branch of 

 an ironwood-tree, and is composed outwardly of a few vine- 

 tendrils and fine strips of bark, kept together by cobwebs, 

 and the same useful material is used to fasten the nest to the 

 branch. The inside is lightly lined with fine pieces of grass. 

 The structure is thin, and the eggs can easily be seen from 

 below; it measures — internal depth 1 inch, external 1^; 

 internal diameter If, external 2. The egg is a light reddish 

 hue and with no gloss. It is darker on the larger end, 

 M'liere it forms an indistinct zone, with markings of a light 

 reddish colour. It measures 0'66 by 0"48 inch. 



5. Marbled Frog-mouth {P o d ar gus marmoratus GonXdi): 

 Cat. B. xvi. p. 135. 



This bird is the most beautifully marked of the Australian 

 Podargus family and also the smallest. It is especially 

 plentiful at Cape York, North Queensland, and I have also 

 had specimens from some distance south of Cooktown. 

 They build the usual fiat stick-nest, 3^ inches in diameter, 

 generally on a horizontal bough, and the bird sits close 

 and is very difficult to detect. A nest was found by 



