THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
on the outer webs with greenish-yellow and margined with buff on the inner ones ; 
tail dark brown ; sides of face unfeathered ; chin and throat pale grey becoming 
darker on the breast and sides of breast; abdomen and under tail-coverts whitish 
tinged with sulphur-yellow ; sides of body greyish ; thighs rust-colour; marginal 
under wing-coverts yellow; under-surface of flight-quills dark brown with huff 
margins ; lower aspect of tail pale brown. Eyes brown, bill dark brown, with 
lower mandible lighter, gape yellow, legs lead-colour. Collected on Jardine Creek, 
Cape York, North Queensland, on the 14th of May, 1911. 
Eggs. Two eggs form the clutch. A clutch of two eggs taken at theClaudie River, Lloyds’ 
Bay, North Queensland, on the 11th of January, 1914, is of a beautiful pale salmon 
ground-colour, mottled with cloudy markings of dull reddish-brown at the larger 
ends, where a well-defined cap is formed on each egg. Ovals in shape. Surface 
of shell smooth, fine, and slightly glossy. 19 by 14 mm. 
Nest. Cup-shaped, and not a very substantial structure, composed of dried twigs and 
portions of creeping plants, etc., bound together with spiders’ webs, and placed 
in a small tree. Dimensions over all, 2£ inches across by 2£ in depth. 
Breeding-season. January to May. 
When Gould wrote : “ It is but an act of justice that at least one of the 
birds of Australia should be named after Mr. James Cockerell, inasmuch as 
he is a native-born Australian, has collected very largely in the northern 
parts of that great country, and discovered more than one new species, 
amongst which must be enumerated the present very interesting bird,” he 
did not anticipate the disrepute into which that collector should bring his 
name. As a collector Cockerell must be ranked very high, while as a 
preparateur he has scarcely, if ever, been surpassed, yet his foolish, almost 
criminal, trick of deliberately adding incorrect localities has made his name 
disliked in connection with Australian systematic ornithology. 
Little has since been written save Macgillivray’s notes, thus: “ Mr. 
McLennan found this very beautiful Honey-eater to be fairly plentiful in the 
neighbourhood of the Jardine River, Cape York Peninsula, in March, April 
and May, 1911. In December they were in numbers in the black tea-tree 
country between Paira and Peak Point, but disappeared within a month. 
In them habits they closely resemble the members of the genus Glyciphih 
and their call is almost undistinguishable from that of Stirjmatops ocularis. 
On the 24th April, 1911, one of these birds was found building its nest in the 
fork of a small tea-tree 2 feet from the ground at the edge of a swamp, the nest 
being composed of fine rootlets bound together with spiders’ webs. The 
first clutch of eggs was fomid on the 9th of May, 1911, the nest being 2 feet 
from the ground in a small tea-tree. Four old nests were found in the 
vicinity, and one containing tw r o half-fledged young birds, in similar bushes, 
all at about 2 feet from the ground. On the 10th May, 1911, another nest 
was found, again in a small tea-tree bush at about 18 inches from the ground. 
500 
