STREAK-NAPED HONEY-EATER. 
Young birds resemble the adults, but have the tips or margins of the upper wing-coverts 
broadly margined with rich golden-olive, and the external webs and the quills edged 
with golden-yeUow, the irmer webs and tips of the tail-feathers margined with 
fulvous; feathers of the chin, throat and fore-neck dull greyish-white, and only a 
faint indication of the white line above and the bright yellow Ime below the ear- 
coverts ; the centre of the breast and the abdomen is a richer sandy-buff.” (North.) 
Eggs. Clutch two, long oval, shell fine and very glossy. Colour pinkish-white, freckled 
all over with small spots of bright brownish-rod, these spots being thicker towards 
the larger end, where they are mixed with small splashes of pale pmple. The eggs 
are different from those of any other Honey-eater. Dimensions 23-24 by 17 mm. 
Nest. Suspended from the rxm fi'om a horizontal fork, composed of strips of baric and 
fibre, woven together and lined with fibre; placed in a mango tree. 
Breeding-months. November. [February to April.] 
Gould has stated: “ The P. filigera is one of the novelties which rewarded 
the researches of Mi’. Wilcox, who obtained two examples among some 
mangroves at Cape York, where he observed it in company with another 
species of the same genus. Although a duU-colotired species, it is rendered 
interestmgly different from all its congeners by the thread-like streak beneath 
the ear-coverts, and by the small strise which decorate the back of the neck 
and the upper part of the mantle.” 
Barnard then wrote from Cape York: “ Fairly plentiful about inland 
scrubs. A nest taken from a cultivated mango tree contained two eggs which 
are the first described. The birds were also found breeding in the scrub. 
One nest foimd contained two yoimg birds and was placed 12 feet from the 
gromid. Another nest, in process of building, was situated 30 feet from the 
the ground, but was deserted by the birds before the eggs were laid. 
Specimens were often seen feeding in the flowering Melaleuca trees on the edge 
of the scrub.” 
MacgiUivi’ay then recorded: “ Very common at Cape York, in scrub, 
open forest, and mangi’oves. They are silent birds, mainly insectivorous in 
their diet, and may often be seen searching the dead leaves on trees for insects. 
The fii’st nest was found in course of construction in the mangroves at Paira 
on the 7th January, 1911 ; two eggs were afterwards laid. This nest was 10 
feet from the gi’ound, suspended by the rim from' a horizontal fork of a small 
bushy mangrove. It was composed outwardly of broad strips of melalenica 
and swamp mahogany bark, lined with a few fine rootlets and fine strips of 
bark, and very compactly built, the sides being | inch in thickness, the bottom 
I inch. Another nest, containing eggs, was fomid on the 2nd Febi'uary. Tliis 
was 30 feet up in a bushy tree in the scrub. A tim'd nest, fomid on the 12th 
February, was also about 30 feet up in a bushy scrub tree, and contained 
two half-fledged young. A fourth found on the 11th April, contained one 
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