YELLOW-FACED HONEY-EATER. 
the year their food is chiefly insects ; I have always found the nest close to 
the ground. The birds are common throughout the year, being met with at any 
time in the Ringwood and Erankston districts.” 
Ingle has recorded from South Gippsland : “ The common Honey-eater 
of the district. Arrives during August, starts to breed early in October, and is 
gone by the middle of May.” 
H. Stuart Dove has also noted: “ While staying on the Tyldesley River, 
East Gippsland, I found a nest of this species in a slender tea-tree about 12 feet 
from the ground ; it contained (21st September) two young in light grey down, 
eyes not yet open. The parents came close to my head while I was examining 
the nest, making a ‘ rut-ut-utting ’ noise with the wings while flying, in the 
same manner as the Spinebill and others of the MeliphagidceP 
Captain S. A. White, writing of the Birds of Mallacoota, Victoria, observed : 
“ Numerous ; they seemed to take the place of P. penicillata, which they 
resemble much in habits. They were nesting in the tea-tree. Their short 
but melodious note was heard on every side in the early morning and evening.” 
Le Souef and Macpherson, dealing with the birds of Sydney, N.S.W., 
whence this bird was first described, wrote: “ The ‘ Chickup 5 is numerous in 
Sydney wherever there are eucalyptus trees, but it sometimes invades the 
flower beds. It takes the place of the ‘ Greenie ’ (P. penicillata) so common 
round Melbourne.” 
Campbell and Barnard, in connection wdth the birds of the Rockingham 
Bay District, allowed as a species Ptilotis barroni, writing : “ Although we 
heard the familiar ‘ chrysops ’ call along the Kirrama Creek, on the table-land, 
when we procured skins we found that they v 7 ere smaller, decidedly darker, 
and had longer biEs than the southern forms. The eggs were also smaUer, 
but characteristic. A nest found suspended in a Casuarina (27/10/16) was 
outwardly composed of green moss and portions of insect cocoons and w r eb 
and was -well lined wdth fine rootlets and a few r Casuarina needles. Dimensions 
over all, 3 inches across by 2 inches in depth.” 
There appears again to be some confusion wdth the Cairns birds as wiU 
be seen below. 
In my “ Reference List ” in 1912 I separated : 
Ptilotis chrysops chrysops (Latham). 
New South Wales. 
Ptilotis chrysops barroni Mathews. 
“ Differs from P. chrysops in its paler coloration above and below, and with 
the green edgings to the primaries indistinct and dull. Cairns.” 
North Queensland. 
Ptilotis chrysops beaconsfieldi Mathews. 
445 
