■206 MELIPHAGID«. 



the rim to the fine drooping leafy twigs of a EucaVyptug, or to the 

 horizontal fork of an Acacia; I have taken the nest of this species 

 within hand's reach of the ground, and at other times at a height 

 of fifty or sixty feet. This Honey-eater always betrays the position 

 of its nest upon the approach of any intruder in its vicinity by its 

 loud and frequent notes of displeasure. Eggs two or three in 

 number for a sitting ; of thirteen sets now before me the ground 

 colour varies from bufTy-white to a light saturnine-yellow, the 

 majority of them being minutely freckled and spotted uniformly all 

 over with irregular shaped reddish-chestnut markings ; a few have 

 .on the larger end nearly round deep reddish-purple spots, with others 

 of a deep lilac appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell. 



A set in the Australian Museum Collection measures (A) 0'78 x 

 0-55 inch ; (B) 0-79 x 0-55 inch ; (0) 0-76 x 0-58 inch. This set 

 is marked uniformly all over with reddish-chestnut markings. 



A set taken in Albert Park, near Melbourne, September 14th 

 1878, measure as follows ;— length (A) 0-83 x 0-57 in(A ; (B) 0-8 

 X 0-57 inch; (0) 0-82 x 0-54 inch. 



I have found this species breeding in Victoria as early as the 

 middle of July, and as late as the end of February. 



Hob. Wide Bay District, Dawson River, Richmond and 

 Clarence Rivers Districts, New South Wales, Interior, Victoria 

 and South Australia. (JRamsay.) 



2 PTILOTIS FUSCA, GouU. 



Fuscous Honey-eater. 

 Qould, Sandbk. Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 319, p. 520. 



" The Fuscous Honey-eater breeds in September and the three 

 following months, making a neat cup-shaped nest of Stringy-bark, 

 strengthened by the addition of a great quantity of cobweb ; it is 

 lined with fine shreds of bark, hair, and sometimes the silky down 

 from the seed-vessels of the wild cotton, (Gomphooaa-pusfruticosUs). 

 It is usually placed among the twigs at the end of some horizontal 



