600 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 
GLYCYPHILA MODESTA, Gray. 
“ Brown-backed Honey-eater.” 
Figure.—Gould-Sharpe, Bds. of New Guinea, vol. ili, pl. 46. 
Reference.—Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., vol. ix, p. 215. 
Previous Descriptions of Eqgs.—Ramsay, P.Z.S., p. 385 (1868). 
Campbell, Victorian Naturalist (1887). North, Cat. Nests and 
Eggs, Austn. Mus. app. (1890). 
Geographical Distribution.—N orth Queensland, also New Guinea 
and Aru Islands. 
Nest.—Bulky, somewhat long in shape, domed with a hooded 
side entrance ; composed of strips, narrow and broad, of the paper- 
like Melaleuca bark, matted together ; lined inside with softer bark 
of the same kind; usually suspended on a Melaleuca, particularly 
from a branch overhanging water. Length 7} inches, diameter 
33 inches ; entrance, which is about the centre of the structure, 1 
inch across. 
Eggs.—Clutch 2, rarely 3; long oval, compressed towards one 
end ; texture of shell very fine; surface without gloss; colour, 
pure white, with here and there very minute dark brown, almost — 
black, specks or dots. Dimensions in parts of an inch :—(1) ‘76 
xaos (2) ai Diced. 
Observations.—The habitat of the Brown-backed or Dusky honey- 
eater is Northern Queensland, with an extension on the opposite 
coast of New Guinea, dwelling about Melaleuca swamps. 
During our Cardwell camp I found a pair of these birds com- 
mencing to build (7 September, 1885), their dome-shaped nest in 
their favourite tree overhanging a stream. 
With regard to the dome-shaped structure of the nest, it is 
worthy of remark that while the two southern species—G@. fulvi- 
Jrons and G. albifrons—build cup-shaped or open nests, the two 
northern kinds—G@. fasciata and G'. modesta—build covered-in 
structures. This would lead us to suppose, from an oological point 
of view, there was some specific or sub-specific difference between 
the two sets of birds. But, possibly, the northern birds have 
been led to conceal their eggs, as well as to suspend the nest over 
water where it is difficult to reach, to escape some natural enemy. 
Mr. J. A. Boyd sent several sets of eggs of the Dusky Honey- 
eater to the Australian Museum from the Herbert River, possibly 
that bird’s southern limit. 
Further north on the Bloomfield River, Mr. Dudley Le Souéf 
found several of the dome-shaped nests, suspended generally at a 
height of about 8 feet from the ground in Melaleuca saplings. 
The following is one of Mr. W. B. Barnard’s notes on the same 
species :—“ I am sending you a skin of this little Honey-eater, or 
Weaver-bird, which builds a hanging nest composed of Ti-tree 
(Melaleuca) bark, with entrance at the side; length about 6 inches; 
