222 MELIPHAGID^. 



tendrils of flowers, narrow threads of bark, and fine wiry fibrous 

 roots matted together with Zamia wool, forming a thick body, 

 which is warmly lined with feathers and Zamia wool mingled 

 together ; the external diameter of the nest is three inches, and 

 that of the cavity about one inch and a-quarter. The eggs are 

 two in number, nine lines long by six and a-half broad ; their 

 ground colour in some instances is a delicate buff, in others a very 

 delicate bluish- white, with a few specks of reddish-brown distributed 

 over the surface, these specks being most numerous at the larger 

 end, where they frequently assume the form of a zone. The 

 breeding season is in October." {Gould, Handbk. Bds. Aust., Vol. 

 i., p. 553.) 



Hah. West and South- West Australia. {Ramsay ) 



Gknus MYZOMELA, Vigors and Hwsfield. 



^-{■>) MYZOMELA SANGUINOLENTA, Latham. 



SangtuneoTis Honey- eater. 

 Gould, Handhk. Bds. Ami., Vol. i., sp. 341, p. 555. ^2^ ^^■ 



" The Sanguineous Honey-eater breeds during the months of 

 October, November, and December, making a neat but somewhat 

 scanty nest of stringy-bark, seldom with any other lining. It is 

 suspended between a fork or twigs at the end of some bough in 

 a bush, or among the upright and topmost branches of the 

 Melaleuca. The nest is perhaps smaller than that of any other 

 Australian bird, being in some instances scarcely one inch and a- 

 half in diameter by one inch in depth. The eggs are two, seldom 

 three, in number, of a delicate white strongly marked with reddish- 

 and yellowish-brown spots, more numerous at the larger end. 

 They are from six to seven lines in length, and from five to six 

 lines in breadth." {Ramsay, Ibis, 1865, p. 304.) 



The markings on these eggs frequently become confluent on the 

 larger end, and assume the form of a zone. Two sets taken at 



