PTILOTIS. 203- 



^ PTILOTIS AURICOMIS, LatMm. 



Yellow-tTiffced Honey-eater. 

 Gould, Handbk. Bds. Aust, Vol. i., sp. 312, p. 511. 32^ ^>- 



" This species remains with us in the neighbourhood of Sydney, 

 throughout the whole year, breeding earlier than the generality 

 of Honey-eaters. We have eggs in our collection taken early in 

 June, and as late as the end of October, during which month they 

 sometimes have a third brood. August and September seem to 

 be their principal months for breeding. Upon referring to my 

 note book, I find that I captured two young birds, well able to 

 fly, on the 18th of July 1863, but during some seasons birds breed 

 here much earlier than in others. The nest is a neat but somewhat 

 bulky structure, open above, and composed of strips of the Stringy- 

 bark tree (Eucalyptus ohliqua). The total length of the nest is 

 about four inches by from two inches and a-half to three inches 

 wide, being two inches deep by one inch and a-half inside. The 

 eggs which are usually two in number, are of a pale flesh-pink, 

 darker at the larger end, where they are spotted and blotched with 

 markings of a much deeper hue, inclining to salmon-colour ; in 

 some the markings form a ring upon the thick end, in others, one 

 irregular patch with a few dots upon the rest of the surface. 

 When freshly taken, they have a beautiful blush of pink, which 

 they generally lose a few days after being blown. Their length 

 is from ten to eleven lines by seven to eight in breadth. Some 

 varieties have a few obsolete dots of faint lilac ; others are without 

 markings, save one patch at the top of the larger end : like most 

 of our Australian bird's eggs, they vary much in shape and in tint 

 of colour. The site selected for the nest is usually some low bushy 

 shrub, among the rich clusters of Temma austraUs, or carefully 

 hidden in the thick tufts of Bleohnum (B. cartiloffineum), which 

 often covers a space of many square yards. In these clumps, where 

 it clings to the stems of the ferns, I have several times found 

 two or three pairs breeding at the same time within a few yards 

 of each other. The ferns and Tecomce seem to be their favourite 

 places for breeding, although the nests may often be found placed 

 suspended between forks in the small bushy oaks (CasuarinceJ. 



