THE HONEY-EATERS 371 



Bell-bird, of Ptilotis sonora and P, clirysops, and the Brown 

 Honey-eater are rich, clear and melodious. A few, as the 

 Wattle-birds, utter distinctly harsh and discordant cries. The 

 nests are open and cup-shaped, variously composed of grasses, 

 bark, old spiders' Avebs, lined with finer grasses, thin strips of 

 bark, hair and wool, and are placed at various heights in forked 

 branches of the trees and saplings, sometimes suspended by the 

 rim, while a few build in bushes. The eggs are two or three in 

 number, and have a strong family likeness, with a uniform 

 ground colour of white or more often flesh-coloured, creamy or 

 buff, ornamented with spots and dots of chestnut-red and 

 purplish-grey. They vary in length from a little over half an 

 inch in the smaller birds to an inch and a quarter in the largest. 



Suh- family Zosteropince. 

 Tail slightly emarginated. Bright olive, yellow, white and 

 black. Melifhreptus. 



Tail square. Brown above, white below. Plectrorhamplius. 



Genus Melithreptus. 



Bill shorter than rest of head, operculum partly covered with 



feathers. First primary about one-third of the length of the 



very long second primary. Tail slightly emarginated. Sexes 



alike in plumage. Tasmania, Australia, South-east New Guinea. 



Key to the Species. 



1. Crown of head black. 



a. WTiite band across the occiput. 



Chin pure white. 



Wing 3 inches. Bare space above eye 



scarlet. M. atricapillus (lunulatus). 



Wing 3 inches. Bare space above eye 



greenish -white. M, chloropsis. 



Bare space round eye 

 both in summer and winter. M. whitlocki 

 Wing 2.7 inches. M. albigularis. 



Chin blackish. 



Length of culmen .55. Hind neck 



olive-yellow. M, gularis 



Hind neck bright yellow. M. laetior. 



Length of culmen .50. Hind neck 



greenish-blue. M. carpentarianus. 



Length of culmen .75. M. validirostris. 



b. Occiput without white band. M. affinis (melanocephalus). 



M. alisteri. 



2. Crown of head grey. A cream-coloured band across 



the occiput. M. brevirostris. 



Crown of head blackish grey, a whitish band across 



the occiput. M. leucogenys. 



Crown of head vinous grey. A white band across 



the occiput. M. vinotinctus. 



