THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
* 
with the same materials. Was lined with a little sheeps’ wool. Dimensions : 
outside, by 2J by 11 in. deep ; inside, If by 14 by 1J deep. 
December 10th, 1910. Full clutch two eggs (one broken). Tree, paperbark. 
Height from ground 7 feet. Nest was placed in a horizontal fork. Materials : 
strips of paperbark, a few rootlets and cobwebs. Linod with rootlets. Nest was 
fastened together with cobwebs and to the tree with the same materials. Dimensions: 
outside, 2 f by 2| by 1 in. deep ; inside, l}-§ by 1H by £ in. deep. 
December 4th, 1910. Two in full clutch were partly incubated. Tree, paperbark. 
Height from ground 10 feet. Nest was placed in the fork of a fine twig growing out 
of the side of a horizontal limb. Was built of strips of soft paperbark, horsehair, 
pieces of silk-like cocoons and sheeps’ wool and lined with wool. Was loosely fastened 
to the tree with cobwebs and frayed out cocoons. Dimensions : outside, 2£ by III 
by lfk hi. deep ; inside, li 3 e by lj by 1 in. deep. 
Eggs. Two eggs form the clutch, though often only one egg is met with. A clutch of two 
eggs taken at Napier Broome Bay, North-west Australia, on the 18th of May, 1910, 
is of a beautiful pale salmon-pink ground-colour, minutety spotted with very dark 
reddish-brown, and pale markings of purplish-grey. Swollen ovals in shape. Surface 
of shell smooth and rather glossy. 17-18 by 13 mm. 
best. A small cup-shaped structure, composed of fine grass stems and pieces of bark, 
and a large quantity of spiders’ webs over the outside, and lined with rootlets. 
Dimensions over all: 24 inches across by nearly 2 inches in depth. Built near the 
ground in a small tree or bush. 
Breeding-months. July to end November. The breeding season is influenced by the 
rains. 
When Gould described this species he acknowledged that “ nothing 
whatever is at present known of its habits or economy.” 
Mr. J. P. Rogers wrote me : “ At Mamgle Creek this species w r as numerous 
among flowering trees. At Mungi its place is taken by another Honey-eater 
with a grey crovm to the head ( keartlundi ). For a distance of thirty miles up 
the Jegurra Creek P . fluvescens was numerous ; from there onward I saw r few, 
but there were not many trees in flower after passing the thirty-mile hut on 
tliis creek. Is a common species in W est Kimberley and is a partial migrant 
for food, I think, as it always appears in larger numbers where many trees are 
in bloom, and from Melville Island he VTote : u This species is one of the 
commonest birds on the island and is usually found in open forest, but also 
frequents the outer edge of the mangroves. Jan. 13, ’12. This species was 
not very numerous on the north side of the island.” 
Hill simply recorded from Kimberley: u A very common bird in all 
scrubby and timbered country,” and from Borroloola: “A fairly common 
species.” 
Macgillivray wrote: Common in the Gulf country, but not seen at 
Cape York. One pair was found building a nest at Sedan, on the Cloncurry, 
on 8th March, 1910, but deserved it after completion. Another nest containing 
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