THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
p. 131, 1909 (Vic.) ; Darnell Smith, ib., Vol. X., p. 52, pi. vi., 1910 (N.S.W.); 
Le Souef and Macpherson, ib ., Vol. XX., p. 90, 1920 (N.S.W.). 
Ptilotis melanops melanops Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 408, Jan. 31st, 1912. 
Ptilotis melanops meltoni Mathews, ib. : (Melton) Victoria ; id., Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., 
p. 62, 1912. 
Lophoptilotis melanops melanops Mathews, List Birds Austr., p. 277, 1913. 
Lophoptilotis melanops meltoni Mathews, ib. ; Belcher, Birds Geelong, p. 342, 1914. 
Distribution. Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria. 
Adult. Top of the head greenish-yellow with dark grey bases to the feathers ; back of the 
neck, mantle, wing-coverts and secondaries dull olive, becoming paler on the rump ; 
primaries ash-brown, margined on the outer web with yellowish-green, and on the 
basal part of the inner web with yellowish-buff ; tail-feathers dull olive, margined 
on the outer w'eb with yellowish-green, tipped with whitish-yellow ; feathers in 
front of, and above and below r the eye, as well as the ear-coverts, glossy-black; 
ear-tufts composed of long golden-yellow feathers ; throat golden-yellow divided 
down the middle by blackish-brown feathers, tipped with golden-yellow T ; chest, 
sides of the body and flanks dusky-yellow, becoming creamy-yellow on the middle 
of the belly and under tail-coverts ; axillaries and under wing-coverts golden- 
yellow ; under-surface of wings olive-brown, widely margined on the inner webs 
with vellowish-buff ; under-surface of tail dull golden-olive, margined at the 
extremity with yellowish-buff. Eyes maroon. Bill and feet black. Total length 
172 mm. ; eulmen 10, wing 83, tail 81, tarsus 23. Figured. Collected at Melton, 
Victoria, on the 8th of June, 1908, and is the type of L. m. meltoni. 
The sexes are alike. 
“ Fledglings are brown above with only a slight tinge of olive, the wings and tail duller 
in colour than the adult, the fore-head and occiput being slightly w r ashed with olive- 
j'ellow ; lores, side of head and ear-coverts blackish ; lengthened plumes behind 
the ears and feathers on sides of throat very pale olive-yellow ; all the under-surface 
olive-browm, the centre of the breast and abdomen dull olive-yellow ; bill and 
gape yellow'; tip of bill and a line extending below' the nostrils brown; legs flesh- 
colour ; iris blackish-brown. Collected at Roseville on the 12th of October, 1901.” 
(North.) 
Eggs. Two to three eggs form the clutch, usually two. A clutch of two eggs taken at 
Chatswood, near Sydney, on the 22nd of August, 1915, is of a beautiful pinkish- 
buff ground-colour, well spotted with dark reddish-brown and purplish-grey. 
Swollen ovals in shapo. Surface of shell fine and smooth, and rather glossy. 
21-22 by 16 mm. 
Nest. A neat cup-shaped structure composed of strips of bark and grasses, and frequently 
decorated all over the outside and bound together with cobwebs and spiders’ white 
egg-bags. Lined with hair or soft downy vegetable substance. Measurements 
over all, 3J inches by inches in depth. Usually placed near the ground in a 
small bush, sometimes within two feet of the ground. 
Breeding-months. (June) July to December. 
This beautiful species was named from the Lambert drawings more than 
once, and apparently though it was a common bird its bright colouring 
attracted attention. Wat ling in the note hereafter quoted states it was a 
508 
