MELITHBEPTUS. 227 



? - 3 MELITHREPTUS LUNULATUS, Shaw. 



LTumlated. Honey-eater. 



Gould, Handhk. Bds. Aust, Vol. i., sp. 349, p. 568. 



This bird is found breeding plentifully in New South Wales, 

 Victoria, and South Australia. Amongst a number of nests 

 presented by Dr. Ramsay to the Trustees of the Australian 

 Museum, is one of this species, taken in October 1864; it is a 

 deep cup shaped structure outwardly composed of shreds of stringy- 

 bark (Eucalyptus ohliqua), closely matted and held together 

 with cobweb, wool, &c., and lined inside with hair ; it is slung by 

 the rim to the leafy twigs of a Eucalyptus, exterior measurements 

 two inches and a-quarter in diameter, by two inches and a-half in 

 depth ; internal diameter one inch and a-half across by one inch 

 and a-half in depth. Eggs two or three in number for a sitting, 

 of a yellowish-buff ground colour, with spots of a deeper and more 

 reddish hue ; some specimens being uniformly spotted all over, 

 but more often assuming the form of a zone. 



A set taken at Dobroyde in July 1861, measure as follows : — 

 length (A) 73 X 0-54 inch ; (B) 0-7 x 0-55 inch ; (C) 0-75 x 

 0-52 inch. 



Two eggs of this species in my collection, taken at Hastings 

 in October 1883, measure as follows : — length (A) 0-8 x 0-6 

 inch ; (B) 0'81 x 0"59 inch. I also procured an egg of Cacomantus 

 pallidus, from the same nest. 



This bird usually breeds during August and the three following 

 months in Victoria, but there are eggs of this species in the 

 Dobroyde Collection taken at Dobroyde, New South Wales, in 

 June 1859, and July 1861. 



Hab. Wide Bay District, Richmond and Clarence Rivers 

 Districts, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. 



