MYZANTHA. 
229 
Genus MYZANTHA, Vigors and Horsfield. 
MYZANTHA GAKRULA, Latham. 
Garrulous Honey-eater. 
Gould, Handbk. Bds. Aust., Yol. i., sp. 353, p. 574. 
This bird is universally distributed over the open forest lands 
of the eastern and southern portions of the continent of Australia, 
and the whole of Tasmania. The nest is cup-sliaped, outwardly 
composed of long thin twigs, and lined inside with fibrous roots, 
grasses, wool &c. ; one now before me measures exteriorly six 
inches in diameter, by four inches and three-quarters in depth ; 
internal diameter three inches and a-quarter by two inches and a 
quarter in depth. It is usually placed in the thin upright forks 
at the top of a small gum sapling, but not unfrequently in the 
branch of a Eucalyptus thirty or forty feet from the ground. 
The eggs are usually three in number for a sitting, and vary 
both in their size and markings, I give descriptions of the 
most usual varieties found. 
Var. A. Ground colour bully-white, thickly freckled and spotted 
all over, but particularly towards the larger end with reddish-brown 
and a few indistinct markings of pale lilac. Length (A) l - 02 x 
075 inch ; (B) 1-04 x 075 inch ; (C) T04 xO’75 inch. Aust. 
Mus. Coll. 
Var. B. Ground colour light saturnine-red, boldly blotched all 
over with irregular shaped markings of deep reddish-chestnut 
and pale bluish-grey. Length (A) l - 02 x 07 5 inch; (B) 1'04 x 
075 inch. Taken at Nanama near Yass, by Mr. James Ramsay, 
October 1S60. 
Yar. C. Ground colour huffy-white, nearly obscured by bran¬ 
shaped markings of reddish-brown, which at the larger end form 
an irregular shaped coalesced patch. Length (A) 1T3 x 08 inch ; 
(B) ITS x 0-8 inch ; (C) ITS x 0'8 inch. Taken near Hastings, 
October 1883. 
