200 MELIPHAGIDA!. 



^ -ly PTILOTIS VITTATA, Cuvier. 



(P. sonora, Gould.) 

 Sonorous Honey-eater. 



Gould, Sandbk. Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 307, p. 504. 



This bird is distributed over a wide expanse of country, 

 specimens having been received in nearly every collection formed 

 in different parts of Australia ; it is particularly plentiful on the 

 Lachlan and Darling Rivers, and in the interior of New South Wales, 

 being the most common of all the species of Honey-eaters in that 

 locality. According to Mr. K. H. Bennett the nests of this bird 

 in the neighbourhood of Mossgiel are round, cup-shaped and 

 somewhat scanty structures of dried grasses &c., matted and held 

 together with spiders' webs, lined inside with fibrous roots, and 

 attached by the rim to suitable twigs in some low bush. Eggs 

 two, or occasionally three in number for a sitting. * 



A set in the Dobroyde Collection, taken by Mr. James Ramsay 

 on the Bogan River in 1880, are of a light yellowish-buff, with a 

 clouded band of reddish-buff towards the larger end. Length (A) 

 0'89 X 0-6 inch ; (B) 0'92 x 0*63 inch. In some specimens the 

 markings are confined to a faint clouded patch on the larger end, 

 others closely resemble small eggs of Cuculus inornatus, Latham. 



A set taken by the late Mr. W. Liscombe, on the Darling in 

 October 1883, are of a pale yellowish-buff, finely freckled with 

 minute dots of reddish-brown particularly on the larger end. 

 Length (A) 0-95 x 0-65 inch ; (B) 0-91 x 0-63 inch. 



September and the three following months comprise the breeding 

 season of this species. 



Hah. Derby, N.W. Australia, Gulf of Carpentaria, Rockingham 

 Bay, Port Denison,Wide Bay District, New South Wales, Interior, 

 Victoria and South Australia, West and South-west Australia. 

 {Bamsay.') 



