1875. ] BIRDS FROM QUEENSLAND. 595 
the honey and insects. In the neighbourhood of Sydney they fre- 
quent the orange-groves, and occasionally breed among the branches 
during the months of October and November. Their cry is pecu- 
liar, but not unpleasant, and at times varied. 
126. PriLoTis LEWINII. 
This species is universally dispersed over the whole of the coast- 
country from the Hunter river to Cooktown. It is particularly 
fond of extracting honey from the flowers of the plantains and native 
bananas (Musa banksti, Miller). Banana groves abound in the 
Cardwell district, and may be distinguished at a great distance in 
large patches clothing the sides of the mountains on the sea-coast; 
and here this species is one of the most common birds. The nest is 
like that of P. chrysops, cup-shaped, open at the top, slung by the 
sides or rim between the twigs of some leafy bough or vine; it is 
composed of sbreds of bark and grasses, webs of spiders, &c., and 
lined with similar material of a finer texture, or occasionally, when 
found in the neighbourhood of dwellings, with feathers, wool, or 
other soft substances. The eggs are two in number, pearly white, 
with deep-reddish dots. 
127. PrILOTIS VERSICOLOR. 
{ only met with one specimen of this bird, which I obtained from 
Broadbent, who informed me the species was not scarce and usually 
fed among the blossoms of tall Eucalypti. 
128. Pritoris MACLEAYANA, Ramsay, P. L. S. of N.S. W. pt. i. 
p- 10 (1875). 
This fine species is one I mentioned in the P. Z. S. 1868, p. 386, 
_under the name of Péi/otis versicolor of Gould (Handb. B. Austr. i. p. 
506); and, strange to say, even the fully adult birds show that peculi- 
arity in the plumage which is usually characteristic of immaturity. 
At first I considered them all young P. versicolor ; but after having 
obtained and examined, from several sources, extending over a period 
of six years, numerous fine specimens, all in similar plumage, and 
shot at various times through the year, I felt convinced that they 
belonged to a distinct species ; and on comparing them with Mr. 
Gould’s excellent plates, I have no doubt I am correct. 
The species has not a very extensive range, being confined, as far 
as we yet know, to the coast-range from the Herbert river north 
to Cooktown on the Endeavour. I found them nowhere pleutiful, 
and always of a shy and retiring disposition, The sexes are alike in 
plumage. 
The only note I heard them utter is a simple feeble cry resem- 
bling that of P. chrysops, but not so loud; in their actions and 
retiring disposition they resmble more P. lewinii. 
129. PrILOTIs FASCIOGULARIS. 
I find no mention in my uote-book of meeting with this bird at 
Rockingham Bay; but I found it plentiful on an island off Port 
