626 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 
Geographical Distribution.—Victoria, (probably the south-west 
interior of New South Wales), South and West Australia. 
Nest.—Cup-shaped, neat, small ; constructed lightly of fine 
greenish grass, matted or intermixed with spiders’ cocoons and 
wool; no particular lining inside except a few downy seeds, &c., 
on the bottom ; usually suspended on a parasitical climber, bush, 
or small tree. Dimensions over all, 24 inches x 13 inches in. 
depth ; egg cavity, 1 inches across x 13 inches deep. 
Eyggs.—Clutch, 2-3 ; oval, compressed towards one end ; texture 
fine ; surface, faint trace of gloss; colour, beautiful, being rich 
salmon pink, distinctly blotched and spotted, particularly about 
the apex, with rich pinkish-brown and dull grey markings. 
Dimensions of a clutch, in parts of an inch—(1) ‘82 x ‘61; (2) 
282 x 61; (3)!:81 =x 6. 
The eggs, like those of the Little Yellow-spotted Honey-eater (P. 
gracilis) of Northern Queensland, are amongst the most richly- 
coloured of the Ptilotes. 
Observations.—This very elegant and attractive Honey-eater, 
or, as Gould well named it, the Graceful, has a fair range of 
habitat over the drier and more inland provinces from Victoria to 
Western Australia, and possibly including New South Wales 
adjacent to the River Murray, or the Murray belts where Gould 
procured his birds. 
T first met this graceful bird in the season of 1880 among a 
forest of saplings near Bagshot, Bendigo, where one or two nests 
were found suspended in a parasitical creeper (Cassytha) sup- 
ported by small trees—a very secure situation for a small nest. 
But the most beautifully-situated nest I ever found of this species, 
and one well worthy of such a pretty bird, was in the Mallee 
country, suspended in a low Acacia bush, adorned with its golden 
store of “wee furry balls.” 
Again, 25th November, 1889, I met this Honey-eater in Western 
Australia, on the coast at Woodman Point, about 8 miles from 
Fremantle. There in a splendid shining clump of Eucalypts, the 
species of which I did not learn, a boy pointed out to me a nest 
suspended in a swaying branch. The late Mr. Roby Woods, in 
whose company I was, drove the buggy underneath ; standing 
upon the seat I easily secured the nest, which contained one egg, 
while the pretty birds protested fearlessly, showing to perfection 
their graceful figures and lengthened yellow plumes upon their 
necks. I also noticed the same kind of birds flitting about the 
gum-trees in the town of Fremantle, where they seemed quite at 
home, as much so as its White-plumed compeer does in the gardens 
about Melbourne. 
Breeding months, August or September to December. 
