NESTS AND EGGS OF HONEY-EATERS. 611 
Mary River (Q.), which were probably the specimens referred to in 
the P.Z.S. (1875), but for which no dimensions were furnished. 
A nest of the Yellow-eared Honey-eater, taken near Melbourne 
in a Musk-tree in the Dandenongs, is large and composed of beauti- 
ful green moss interlaced with strips of brownish-coloured bark 
and lined inside with a thick ply of the whitish cotton-like sub- 
stance evidently gathered from the underside of the leaves of the 
Blanket-wood (Senecio). Dimensions—outward, 4—5 inches across 
by 4 inches deep; inside, 25-3 inches across by 2 inches deep. 
Near the same locality, after a picnic party had departed, I, and 
some other persons, were entertained by one of the fine Honey- 
eaters, which descended close by and ate, with a relish, some 
particles of preserved fruit that were left. 
Breeding months, September to December or January. 
PTILOTIS FRENATA, Ramsay. 
“‘ Bridled Honey-eater.” 
Figure.—Gould-Sharpe, Bds. of New Guinea, vol. iii, pl. 49. 
Reference.—Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., vol. ix, p. 231. 
Previous Descriptions of Eggs.—North, Records Australian 
Museum, vol. ii (1892). 
Geographical Distribution.—North Queensland. 
est.—Cup-shaped ; composed of long pliant stems of a climbing 
plant and portions of the soft reddish-brown stems of a small fern ; 
inside neatly lined with a white, wiry, vegetable fibre, forming a 
strong contrast to the reddish-brown colour of the exterior. 
Dimensions over all, 4-25 inches by 2:6 inches in depth ; egg cavity, 
2°5 inches across by 1°6 inches deep (North). 
£ggs.—Clutch, 2 ; oval in form, tapering gradually to tke 
smaller end, and are white with minute dots and round markings 
of purplish-black and brownish-grey, the latter colour appearing 
as if beneath the surface of the shell ; as usual the markings pre- 
dominate on the thicker end, where in places they become confluent 
and form an irregular zone; with the exception of these zones 
the markings on one of the specimens are larger and more sparingly 
dispersed, in the other they are uniformly distributed over the 
greater portion of the surface of theshell. Dimensions in inches— 
(1) :93 x -65; (2) -95 x ‘65. (North). 
Observations.—This very fine northern Honey-eater is only known 
to exist in the Rockingham Bay district, chiefly in the ranges. 
It is found as far north as the Bloomfield River. Mr. Kendal 
Broadbent, when collecting for Dr. Ramsay, first found the species 
in the Cardwell district, where a few individuals were obtained 
frequenting blossoming Eucalypts near the margin of a swamp. 
I think it was this species we found in Dalrymple’s Gap feasting 
in numbers upon the heads of long, erect, flowering spikes of a 
dark-red colour of the graceful Umbrella-tree (Srassara). 
