32 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST, 



Myzantha lutea, Gld., Yellow Minah. 



Nest. — Bowl-shaped, slightly oval in shape ; the rough outer 

 portion made of short lengths of twiners, fastened together with 

 wool, the inner part of the same materials more closely woven ; 

 lining of fine rootlets and grass fibre. Measurements. — Externally, 

 8 inches x 7 inches, with depth 3.75 inches; internally, 3.75 

 inches x 3 inches, with depth (egg cavity) 1.6 inches. Mr. 

 Rogers remarks the nests were placed in green sprouts growing 

 from the broken end of a limb of a Bloodwood tree, at about 

 20 feet from the ground. 



Eggs. — Two clutches, 9/3/01. In appearance they vary con- 

 siderably. 



a. Two to the sitting. Ovate glossy surface, salmon coloured, 

 mottled all over, but especially at the larger end, with reddish- 

 chestnut ; spotted with purplish-grey, as if partly beneath the 

 surface, and not conspicuous. Dimensions. —a^. Axis, i inch; 

 diameter, 0.75 inch. d^. Axis, 0.95 inch ; diameter, 0.7 inch. 



b. Three to the sitting. Long oval, dull reddish-buff, blotched 

 and streaked with dull purplish-red or ruddy-brown fairly regularly 

 all over the egg ; pale purplish blotclies of small and large areas 

 appearing as if beneath the surface. Dimensions. — Axis, i.i 

 inches ; diameter, 0.75 inch. 



Ptilotis flavescens, Gld., Yellow-tinted Honey-ealer. 



One fresh egg being found in the nest alone would tend to 

 indicate the sitting to be two or more. 2/3/01. 



-E"^^.— Uniform dull salmon-colour, sparsely spotted, except at 

 the broader end, which has a zone of dull red spots. Dimensions. 

 — Axis, 0.75 inch; diameter, 0.5 inch. 



Ornithology has lost a promising student by the death of 

 Mr. C. Smart, who was recently found drowned in a high tank on 

 a farm at Pomborneit, where he was staying. It is supposed that, 

 while in pursuit of his favourite hobby, he attempted to capture 

 some owls or other night birds, and, missing his footing, struck 

 his head against the tank and fell into it in an insensible con- 

 dition, and was thus drowned. He and his brother, Mr. H. C. 

 Smart, were getting together a good representative collection of 

 Victorian birds, many of which had been exhibited at the Club 

 meetings. 



The last news of Professor Spencer's expedition was from 

 Barrow's Creek, about 1,200 miles north of Adelaide, and some 

 500 miles from its starting point. The professor writes that 

 everything was so far satisfactory, and that he was sending back 

 many hundreds of feet of cinematograph films of native dances, 

 ceremonies, &c. ; also a number of phonograph records of native 

 songs and speech. 



