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PTILOTIS SONOKA {Gould). 



SINGING HONE YEA TER. 



THE range of this species is Very extensive, stretching from the east coast of Australia to the 

 west, and also reaching very far north. It is especially common in the interior of New South 

 Wales, and also about the Swan River in Western Australia. It is generally found on the she-oak 

 or honeysuckle trees, which dot large, grassy plains and the sides of hills. In Western Australia it 

 is very troublesome in the orchards, particularly among fig-trees, of the fruit of which it is very 

 fond. Unlike most of the other Honey-eaters, it seeks for insects, not only among the branches of 

 trees, but also in the fallen timber, about which it hops with great activity. 



It takes exclusive possession of any tree on which it perches, fighting with and driving away 

 birds considerably larger than itself. 



The breeding season lasts from August to the end of December. The nest is composed 

 either of thin twigs, lined with fibres, or of interwoven grasses, lined with marsupial fur or down of 

 flowers. In this either two or three eggs are laid, of a light buff, covered with small reddish-brown 

 spots. In length they are eleven lines and in breadth eight lines. 



The crown of the head and all the upper surface are dark-grey ; wings and tail, brownish- 

 grey, margined with yellow ; a space round the eye and line down the sides of the neck, black ; 

 ear-coverts, pale-yellow, behind which is a small spot of white ; under-surface, pale olive, striated with 

 lio-ht brown ; irides, liofht brown : bill, brownish-black ; lesrs and feet, lead-colour. 



Total length, 7^ inches; bill, 1 inch; wing, 3f inches; tail, 3^ inches; tarsi, 1 inch. 



Habitats : New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, and some of the northern 

 portions of Australia. 



GENUS STIGMATOPS (Gould). 



ONE species of this form is found in Australia, and two or three more in the islands north of 

 that continent. 



STIGMATOPS OCULAEIS (Gould). 



BUG 1 \ N HONE Y-EA TER. 



TI^HE Brown Honey-eater is found in large numbers on the coast and in the interior of New South 

 J- Wales, and also about the neighbourhood of Perth in Western Australia. 



Its food, in the search for which it displays great activity among the branches of trees, is 

 the same as that of most of the other Melijphagidae, namely, pollen of flowers and various insects. 



