MELITHEEPTtlS. 225 



Genus .MELITHEEPTUS, Vieillot. 



n MELITHREPTUS VALIDIROSTRIS, Gould. ' 



Strong-billed. Honey-eater. 



Gould, Handhh., Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 347, p. 565. 



The nest of this species is an open cup-shaped structure composed 

 of dried grasses and the flowering portions of plants, matted 

 together and slung by the rim usually to the fine twigs of a 

 Eucalyptus. Eggs three in number for a sitting, of a fleshy -buff 

 ground colour, becoming darker towards the larger end, where they 

 are thickly spotted with purplish-brown and superimposed markings 

 of deep greyish-lilac. Length (A) 0-89 x 0-64 inch ; (B) 0-87 x 0-65 

 inch; (C) 087 x 0-66 inch. 



A set in the Collection of Dr. James C. Cox measure as follows : — 

 length (A) 0-84 x 0-62 inch ; (B) 0-83 x 0-61 inch ; , (C) 0-81 x 

 0-63 inch. 



Hah. Tasmania. 



3 MELITHREPTUS BREVIROSTRIS, Vigors and Ilorsfield. 

 Short-billecl Honey-eater. 

 Yig. and Horsf., Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. xv., p. 315. 



This bird ranges over the eastern, south-eastern, and interior 

 portions of the continent of Australia. In the Dobroyde Collection 

 are the nest and eggs of this species, together with the birds shot 

 therefrom, they were obtained by Mr. J. Ramsay at Cardington, 

 on the Bell River, in November 1867. Like those of the other 

 members of the genus, the nest was suspended by the rim to the 

 thin twigs, at the extremity of a branch of a Eucalyptus ; it is 

 outwardly composed of grasses matted together with a little wool, 

 and lined inside with opossum fur. Eggs three in number for a 

 sitting, of a pale salmon ground colour, rather indistinctly marked 

 with short wavy lines and spots of reddish-chestnut, but particularly 

 towards the larger end, where together with subsurface markings 

 



