510 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Sp.311. PTILOTIS LEUCOTIS. 



White-eared Honey-eater. 



Turdus leucotis, Lath. Ind. Orn., p. xliv. 



White-eared Honey-eater, Lewin, Birds of New Holl., pi. 20. 



Thrush, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 373. 



Meliphaga leucotis, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 314. 



Ptilotis leucotis, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. iv. pi. 36. 



The White-eared Honey-eater enjoys a very wide range of 

 habitat ; I found it in abundance in the belts of the Murray 

 and other parts of South Australia, and in the brushes near 

 the coast as well as in the open forests of Eiicali/jM in New 

 South Wales ; it is very common in the Bargo brush on the 

 road to Argyle, and Gilbert mentions that he shot a specimen 

 near York in the interior of Western Australia, but it is there 

 so rare that he believed the individual he procured was the 

 only one that had been seen. It is as much an inhabitant of 

 the mountainous as of the lowland parts of the country, and 

 is always engaged in creeping and clinging about among the 

 leafy branches of the Eucalypti, particularly those of a low or 

 stunted growth. 



Its note is loud, and very much resembles that of the 

 Ptilotis penicillata. The stomach is small and membranous, 

 and the food consists of insects of various kinds. 



The sexes are alike in their markings, but they differ con- 

 siderably in size, the male being much larger than the female. 



Upper surface and abdomen yellowish olive ; crown of the 

 head grey, streaked longitudinally with black ; throat and 

 chest black; ear-feathers pure silvery white ; tips of the tail- 

 feathers yellowish white ; bill black ; irides greenish grey, 

 with a narrow ring of pale wood-brown ; legs and feet leaden 

 greenish grey. 



