NESTS AND EGGS OF HONEY-FATERS. 605 
MELIPHAGA PHRYGIA, Latham. 
“‘ Warty-faced Honey-eater.” 
Figure.—Gould, Bds. of Australia, fol., vol. 1v, pl. 48. 
Reference.—Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., vol. 1x, p. 221. 
Previous Descriptions of Eggs.—Gould, Bds. of Australia 
(1848) ; also, Hdbk., vol., 1, p. 528 (1865). Ramsay, Trans. Phil. 
Soc. N.S. W., with fig. (1865). 
Geographical Distribution.—Queensland, New South Wales, 
Victoria, and South Australia. 
Nest.—Cup-shaped, round ; composed of strips of soft brownish 
bark, with an admixture of spider’s greenish cocoons ; inside lined 
with fine bark, grass, and soft materials, such as wool, hair, &ec. ; 
usually placed on a horizontal limb at the junction of a sprouting 
branch, or in a fork in rough-barked Eucalypts in open forest. 
Dimensions over all 4-45 inches by 2 inches in depth, egg cavity, 
2} inches across by 1} inches deep. 
£gog9s.—Clutch 2; nearly oval in shape ; texture fine; surface 
slightly glossy ; colour, rich reddish-buff, darker on the apex, 
where is a zone of soft or indistinct spots of reddish and purplish- 
brown, a few spots also appearing over the rest of the surface. 
Dimensions of a clutch in parts in parts of an inch, (1) ‘96 x °67; 
(2)ie8e. i670. 
Observations. —As Gould remarks, the Warty-faced Honey-eater 
is not only one of the most handsome of our Honey-eaters, but one 
of the most beautiful of Australian birds. On account of the 
beauty of its black and golden plumage, it has been called the 
* Mock Regent-bird”” in some localities. 
The peculiar plaintive song, accompanied with the bowing of 
the head of the Warty-faced Honey-eater is very agreeable. The 
bird may be called an interior species, with a habitat ranging from 
Queensland down to South Australia, and although Gould regarded 
it as a stationary species, it occasionally, according to seasons, or 
the supply of the Eucalyptus blossom, wanders towards the coast. 
I recollect one season in November—1868 or 1869—when these 
birds were plentiful in the neighbourhood of Oakleigh and Mur- 
rumbeena, where we secured as many of their beautifully con- 
structed bark-made nests, and lovely rich salmon-coloured eggs, as 
we needed. Again, in October, 1882, in the Bendigo district, I 
took their nests. : 
During the great drought in the interior—1896-7—the Warty- 
faced Honey-eaters were numerous in Victoria, and were noticed 
in localities where they had never previously been seen. 
Gould somewhat qualities his statement about the Warty-faced 
Honey-eater being a stationary species by stating, ‘‘I have occasion- 
ally seen flocks of from fifty to a hundred in number passing from 
