_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
PTILOTIS CHRYSOTIS.
Yellow-eared Honey-eater.
_Certhia chrysotis_, Lath. Ind. Orn., Supp., p. xxxviii. No. 16.
_Yellow-eared Honey-eater_, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 195. No. 54.
_Meliphaga chrysotis_, Lewin, Birds of New Holl., pi. v.—Vig. and
Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 314.—Gould in Syn. Birds
of Australia, Part I.
_Spot-eared Creeper_, Shaw, Zool., vol. viii. p. 244.
The Yellow-eared Honey-eater is very common in New South Wales, where it
inhabits the thick brushes near the sea, breeding and dwelling therein
all the year round. I found it especially abundant in all parts of the
river Hunter, as well as in the cedar brushes of the Liverpool and other
ranges of hills. No examples of this bird came under my notice in South
Australia, and I do not believe that it extends so far to the westward;
neither does it occur at Port Essington, in which district a different
character of country and of vegetation prevails. Mr. Bynoe procured a
single specimen on the north coast, but did not note the precise
locality. In its habits and disposition it assimilates very closely to
the _Ptilotis flavigula_ of Van Diemen’s Land. It prefers low shrubby
trees to those of a larger growth, frequently descending to the ground
among the underwood in search of insects. No one species of the genus is
more bold and fearless of man; I have often been permitted to approach
within a few yards of it while threading the dense brushes without
causing it the least alarm. Like the rest of its genus, this species
feeds on insects, the pollen of flowers, and occasionally fruits and
berries. The flowering creeper upon which the bird is figured (together
with many similar plants), growing in the utmost luxuriance on the sides
of rivers, and attracting a corresponding amount of insect life, is
often visited by the _Ptilotis chrysotis_, which may be observed busily
engaged in search of its prey, heedless of the proximity of a human
intruder in its sequestered haunts. It is not celebrated for the
richness or liquidity of its notes or for the volubility of its song,
but its presence, when not visible among the foliage, is always to be
detected by its loud ringing whistling note, which is continually poured
forth during the months of spring and summer.
The sexes are alike in colour, but the female presents the same
disparity of size that is observable between the sexes of the other
species of the genus; the young at an early age assume the plumage of
the adults, but the colour is not so rich or decided.
I found a nest of this species in a gully under the Liverpool range; it
was placed in the thickest part of one of the creeping plants which
overhung a small pool of water; like that of the rest of the genus, it
was cup-shaped in form, suspended by the brim, and very neatly made of
sticks and lined with very fine twigs; the eggs are two in number, of a
pearly white spotted with purplish brown, the spots forming a zone at
the large end; they are eleven and a half lines long by eight lines
broad.
Upper surface olive-green; under surface the same colour but paler;
behind the ears an oval spot of fine yellow; region of the eyes
blackish; below the eye a narrow stripe of yellow; bill black at the
tip, yellow at the base; legs purplish flesh-colour; irides dark
lead-colour; gape white.
The Plate represents a male and a female of the natural size.
[Illustration:
PTILOTIS SONORUS: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
PTILOTIS SONORUS, _Gould_.
Singing Honey-eater.
_Ptilotis sonorus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 160.
_Dȍo-rum-dȍo-rum_, Aborigines of the lowland, and
_Gool-b̏o-ort_, Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western
Australia.
_Larger Honey-sucker_, Colonists of Swan River.
I have abundant evidence that the range of this species extends across
the entire continent of Australia from east to west; I found it very
numerous on the Namoi and other portions of the interior of New South
Wales, and equally plentiful in a part of the country of a similar
character to the northward of Adelaide, and it is also one of the
commonest birds of the colony of Swan River. It does not, I believe,
extend very far north, at least no examples have as yet been sent from
the northern parts of the country. Moderately-sized trees, particularly
_Casuarinæ_ and _Banksiæ_, thinly scattered over grassy plains and the
crowns and sides of low hills, are its usual coverts, and I have never
found it in the brushes which form so peculiar a feature in New South
Wales, and which are the ordinary abode of several other species of the
genus. In Western Australia it enters the gardens and commits
considerable havoc among the fruit-trees, particularly figs, the seeds
of which appear to be its most favourite food. It also feeds upon
insects, which are principally sought for among the branches; but it
frequently descends and seeks for them and small seeds on the ground,
when it hops around the boles and beneath the branches of the trees in a
most lively manner.
As its name implies, it possesses the power of singing, and for an
Australian bird, and particularly a Honey-eater, in no ordinary degree;
its notes being so full, clear and loud as to be heard at a considerable
distance, and very much resembling those of the Missel Thrush (_Turdus
viscivorus_). In South Australia I heard it in full song in the midst of
winter, when it was one of the shiest birds of the country, and I find
that in the memoranda made at the time I have described its notes as
full, loud and ringing.
It is exceedingly pugnacious in disposition, often fighting severe
battles with the Wattle-Birds (_Anthochæræ_), and other species even
larger than those.
Its flight is undulating and tolerably rapid.
The breeding-season commences in August and terminates in December. The
nest is a frail, round, cup-shaped structure, the materials of which
vary in different situations; those observed by me in New South Wales
being composed of fine dried stalks of annuals thinly lined with fibrous
roots woven together with spiders’ webs, and suspended by the rim to two
or three fine twigs near the centre of the tree; on the other hand,
those observed by Mr. Gilbert in Western Australia were formed of green
grasses, which become white and wiry when dry, matted together with the
hair of kangaroos or opossums, lined with fine grasses and the down of
flowers, and placed in a thick scrubby bush at about three feet from the
ground.
The eggs are usually two, but occasionally three in number, of a light
yellowish buff, thickly freckled with small indistinct reddish brown
marks; or of a nearly uniform fleshy buff without spots or markings, but
of a deeper tint at the larger end; their medium length is eleven lines,
and breadth eight lines.
Crown of the head and all the upper surface greyish olive; wings and
tail brown, margined on their external webs with greenish yellow; lores,
space around the eye and broad line down the sides of the neck black;
ear-coverts pale yellow, behind which is an obscure spot of greyish
white; throat and under surface pale yellowish grey striated with light
brown; irides dark brown; bill black; legs and feet greenish grey.
The female is like the male in colour, but smaller in all her
dimensions.
The Plate represents the two sexes and a nest of the natural size on a
branch of a _Casuarina_.
[Illustration:
PTILOTIS VERSICOLOR: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
PTILOTIS VERSICOLOR, _Gould_.
Varied Honey-eater.
_Ptilotis versicolor_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part X. p. 136.
This fine species, which is a native of the northern portion of
Australia, is only known to me from a specimen contained in a collection
from that part of the country. That its whole habits and economy will
hereafter be found to assimilate most closely to those of the _Ptilotis
sonorus_ is certain, as it is most intimately allied to that species,
but may be readily distinguished from it by its larger size, its much
longer and stouter bill, by the more contrasted character of its
markings, and the sulphur or wax-yellow colour which pervades the breast
and upper surface. It is one of the finest species yet discovered of the
genus to which it belongs, and is at present so rare, that my own
specimen is probably the only one that has been brought to Europe.
All the upper surface brownish olive, tinged with yellowish olive on the
margins of the feathers; outer webs of the primaries and tail
wax-yellow; inner webs brown; under surface of the wing and tail
yellowish buff; stripe over the eye to the back of the neck black;
ear-coverts dark grey; below the ear-coverts a stripe of bright yellow;
throat and under surface yellow, becoming paler as it approaches the
vent, each feather with a stripe of brown down the centre.
The Plate represents the bird in two positions of the natural size.
[Illustration:
PTILOTIS FLAVIGULA: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
PTILOTIS FLAVIGULA, _Gould_.
Yellow-throated Honey-eater.
_Ptilotis flavigula_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VI. p. 24;
and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part IV.
This fine and conspicuous species of _Ptilotis_ is abundant in all the
ravines round Hobart Town, and is very generally dispersed over the
whole of Van Diemen’s Land, to which island I believe it to be
exclusively confined, for I neither observed it myself nor have I met
with any example in the numerous collections I have received from South
Australia and New South Wales. It is very animated and sprightly in its
disposition, extremely quick in its actions, elegant in its form, and
graceful in all its movements; but as its colouring assimilates in a
remarkable degree with that of the leaves of the trees it frequents, it
is somewhat difficult of detection. When engaged in searching for food
it frequently expands its wings and tail, creeps and clings among the
branches in a variety of beautiful attitudes, and often suspends itself
to the extreme ends of the outermost twigs; it occasionally perches on
the dead branches of the highest trees, but is mostly to be met with in
the dense thickets. It flies in an undulating manner like a Woodpecker,
but this power is rarely exercised.
Its note is a full, loud, powerful and melodious call.
The stomach is muscular, but of a very small size, and the food consists
of bees, wasps and other Hymenoptera, to which are added Coleoptera of
various kinds, and the pollen of flowers.
It is a very early breeder, as proved by my finding a nest containing
two young birds covered with black down and about two days old, on the
28th of September.
The nest of this species, which is generally placed in a low bush,
differs very considerably from those of all the other Honey-eaters with
which I am acquainted, particularly in the character of the material
forming the lining; it is the largest and warmest of the whole, and is
usually formed of ribbons of stringy bark, mixed with grass and the
cocoons of spiders; towards the cavity it is more neatly built, and is
lined internally with opossum or kangaroo fur; in some instances the
hair-like material at the base of the large leafstalks of the tree-fern
is employed for the lining, and in others there is merely a flooring of
wiry grasses and fine twigs. The eggs, which are either two or three in
number, are of the most delicate fleshy buff, rather strongly but thinly
spotted with small, roundish, prominent dots of chestnut-red,
intermingled with which are a few indistinct dots of purplish grey;
their average length is eleven lines, and breadth eight lines.
The only external difference in the sexes is the smaller size of the
female, which is nearly a third less than that of the male.
Lores and cheeks black; crown of the head, ear-coverts, breast and under
surface dark grey, with silvery reflexions; a few of the ear-coverts
tipped with yellow; chin and upper part of the throat rich
gamboge-yellow; all the upper surface, wings and tail rich yellowish
olive, brightest on the margins of the quill- and tail-feathers; inner
webs of the primaries and secondaries dark brown; under surface of the
shoulder and wing gamboge-yellow; abdomen and flanks washed with olive;
bill black; interior of the bill, throat and tongue rich orange; irides
wood-brown; legs and feet brownish lead-colour.
The young birds assume the adult colouring from the time they leave the
nest.
The Plate represents a male and a female of the natural size.
[Illustration: