MELITHHEPTUS. 
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Genus MELITHHEPTUS, Vieillot. 
MELTTHREPTUS VALIDIROSTRIS, Gould. 
Strong-billed Honey-eater. 
Gould , TTandbk., Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 347, p. 565. 
The nest of this species is an open cup-shaped structure composed 
of dried grasses and the flowering portions of plants, matted 
together and slung by the rim usually to the fine twigs of a 
Eucalyptus. Eggs three in number for a sitting, of a fleshy-buff 
ground colour, becoming darker towards the larger end, where they 
are thickly spotted with purplish-brown and superimposed markings 
of deep greyish-lilac. Length (A) 0 - 89 x 0 - 64 inch ; (P>) 087 x 065 
inch ; (C) 0 87 x 0'66 inch. 
A set in the Collection of Dr. James C.Cox measure as follows:— 
length (A) 0-84 x 0-62 inch ; (B) 083 x 0 61 inch ; (C) 0'81 x 
0'63 inch. 
Hah. Tasmania. 
MELTTHREPTUS BREVIROSTRIS, Vigors and Ilorsfield. 
Short-billed Honey-eater. 
Vig. and Hors/., Trans. Linn. Soc., Vol. xv., p. 315. 
This bird ranges over the eastern, south-eastern, and interior 
portions of the continent of Australia. Tn the Dobroyde Collection 
are the nest and eggs of this species, together with tire birds shot 
therefrom, they were obtained by Mr. J. Ramsay at Cardington, 
on the Bell River, in November 1867. Like those of the other 
members of the genus, the nest was suspended by the rim to the 
thin twigs, at the extremity of a branch of a Eucalyptus ; it is 
outwardly composed of grasses matted together with a little wool, 
and lined inside with opossum fur. Eggs three in number for a 
sitting, of a pale salmon ground colour, rather indistinctly marked 
with short wavy lines and spots of reddish-chestnut, but particularly 
towards the larger end, where together with subsurface markings 
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