PTILOTIS. 
203 
PTILOTIS AURICOMIS, Latham. 
Yellow-tufted Honey-eater. 
Gould, JLandbk. lids. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 312, p. 511. 
“ This species remains with us in the neighbourhood of Sydney, 
throughout the whole year, breeding earlier than the generality 
of Honey-eaters. We have eggs in our collection taken early in 
June, and as late as the end of October, during which month they 
sometimes have a third brood. August and September seem to 
be their principal months for breeding. Upon referring to my 
note book, I find that I captured two young birds, well able to 
fiy, on the 18th of July 1863, but during some seasons birds breed 
here much earlier than in others. The nest is a neat but somewhat 
bulky structure, open above, and composed of strips of the Stringy- 
bark tree (Eucalyptus obliqua). The total length of the nest is 
about four inches by from two inches and a-half to three inches 
wide, being two inches deep by one inch and a-half inside. The 
eggs which are usually two in number, are of a pale flesh-pink, 
darker at the larger end, where they are spotted and blotched with 
markings of a much deeper hue, inclining to salmon-colour ; in 
some the markings form a ring upon the thick end, in others, one 
irregular patch with a few dots upon the rest of the surface. 
When freshly taken, they have a beautiful blush of pink, which 
they generally lose a few days after being blown. Their length 
is from ten to eleven lines by seven to eight in breadth. Some 
varieties have a few obsolete dots of faint lilac ; others are without 
markings, save one patch at the top of the larger end : like most 
of our Australian bird’s eggs, they vary much in shape and in tint 
of colour. The site selected for the nest is usually some low bushy 
shrub, among the rich clusters of Tecoma australis, or carefully 
hidden in the thick tufts of Blechuum (B. cartilagineum), which 
often covers a space of many square yards. In these clumps, where 
it clings to the stems of the ferns, I have several times found 
two or three pairs breeding at the same time within a few yards 
of each other. The ferns and Tecomai seem to be their favourite 
places for breeding, although the nests may often be found placed 
suspended between forks in the small bushy oaks (CasuarinceJ. 
