200 
MELIPHAGIDiE. 
PTILOTIS VITTATA, Cuvier. 
(P. sonora, Gould.) 
Sonorous Honey-eater. 
Gould, Handbk. Bds. Aust., Yol. i., sp. 307, p. 504. 
This bird is distributed over a wide expanse of country, 
specimens having been received in nearly every collection formed 
in different parts of Australia ; it is particularly plentiful on the 
Lachlan and Darling Rivers, and in the interior of New South Wales, 
being the most common of all the species of Honey-eaters in that 
locality. According to Mr. K. H. Bennett the nests of this bird 
in the neighbourhood of Mossgiel are round, cup-sliaped and 
somewhat scanty structures of dried grasses ifcc., matted and held 
together with spiders’ webs, lined inside with fibrous roots, and 
attached by the rim to suitable twigs in some low bush. Eggs 
two, or occasionally three in number for a sitting. 
A set in the Dobroyde Collection, taken by Mr. Jallies Ramsay 
on the Bogan River in 1880, are of a light yellowish-buff, with a 
clouded band of reddish-buff towards the larger end. Length (A) 
0'89 x 0 - 6 inch ; (B) 0 - 92 x 0 - G3 inch. In some specimens the 
markings are confined to a faint clouded patch on the larger end, 
others closely resemble small eggs of Cuculus inornatus, Latham. 
A set taken by the late Mr. W. Liscombe, on the Darling in 
October 1883, are of a pale yellowish-buff, finely freckled with 
minute dots of reddish-brown particularly on the larger end. 
Length (A) 095 x 065 inch ; (B) 0-91 x 0'63 inch. 
September and the three following months comprise the breeding 
season of this species. 
1lab. Derby, N. W. Australia, Gulf of Carpentaria, Rockingham 
Bay, Port Denison,Wide Bay District, New South Wales, Interior, 
Victoria and South Australia, West and South-west Australia. 
(Ramsay.) 
