PLATE 



PTILOTIS CHKYSOPS. 



YELLO W-FA CED HONEY -E A TER. 



IT is almost impossible to go to any part of New South Wales or South Australia, whether in the 

 interior or near the coast, without coming across specimens of this bird. It continually flits among 

 the branches of trees in search of food, all the time uttering a beautiful and melodious song. 



It breeds in October and November. The nest is built in various trees, sometimes on the top of a 

 tall Casuarina, at other times in a small sapling, almost within reach of the hand. It is neatly built of 

 the inner portion of the bark of trees, lined with very fine grasses, and is so thin that one can see through 

 it. The eggs, two or three in number, are rather long ; and in colour are deep buff, tinged at the larger 

 end with chestnut-red, and the remaining surface has large spots of purplish-grey sparsely distributed over 

 it. They are ten and a half lines long by seven lines broad. 



The crown of the head and all the upper surface, wings and tail, are olive-brown, the 

 primaries and secondaries being margined with yellow ; throat and under surface, brownish-grey ; a line 

 of black runs from the nostrils through the eye ; this line is bounded below by a stripe of yellow, 

 below which runs another parallel line of black ; behind the ear-coverts is a spot of white ; bill, 

 black ; irides, brown ; legs and feet, blackish-brown. 



Habitats : New South Wales and South Australia. 



GENUS MELIPHAGA (Lewin). 



ONLY one species is known of this genus, which inhabits the south-eastern portion of Australia. 

 It is confined to districts where the Eucalypti flourish, and is more abundant near the coast than 

 in the interior. 



MELIPHAGA PHRYGIA (Lewin). 



WARTY-FA CED HONE Y-EA TER. 



1VTO one who has seen this bird in its native state, especially when flying, could fail to be struck with 

 -Ll the beautiful contrasted hues of black and yellow, which render it one of the handsomest, not 

 only of the Honey-eaters, but of all the birds of Australia. It is confined to New South Wales, Victoria, 

 and South Australia, but can be found in any particular district only when the Eucalyptus trees there are 

 in blossom. As a general rule, two of three take possession of a tree, from which they keep off all 

 other birds, even those of their own species. Sometimes flocks of from fifty to a hundred are seen passing 

 from tree to tree in search of food. 



