_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
PTILOTIS AURICOMIS.
Yellow-tufted Honey-eater.
_Yellow-tufted Flycatcher_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p.
215.—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 172.
_Certhia auriculata_, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 236.
_Muscicapa mystacea_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. li.?
_Mustachoe Honey-eater_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 221?—Ib.
Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 177?
_Muscicapa auricomis_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xlix.—Steph. Cont. of
Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. x. p. 354.
_L’Heorotaire à oreilles jaunes_, Vieill. Ois. dor., tom. ii. p. 123.
pl. 85.
_Tufted-eared Honey-eater_, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 197.
_Meliphaga auricomis_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p.
313.—Swains. Zool. Ill., vol. i. pl. 43.
By the list of synonyms given above, it will be seen that much doubt
existed in the minds of the earlier writers on ornithology as to the
place this bird should occupy in the natural system; the question was
finally decided by Messrs. Vigors and Horsfield assigning it to its true
station among the _Meliphagidæ_.
It is certainly one of the most beautiful as well as one of the oldest
known species of the genus _Ptilotis_,—a genus, so far as is yet known,
peculiar to Australia and New Guinea, the natural habitat of whose
members is the evergreen _Eucalypti_, _Acaciæ_, &c.; and it is extremely
interesting to observe how closely the plumage of the various groups of
birds assimilates in colour to that of the flowers and leaves of the
trees which they inhabit. I have often watched various species of this
group among the leavey and flowering branches, busily engaged in
gathering honey and insects, when the assimilation of the general tint
of their plumage to the leaves, and their beautiful ornamental
ear-coverts to the flowers, was very remarkable.
The Yellow-tufted Honey-eater is abundant in New South Wales, inhabiting
at one season or other every portion of the country; the brushes near
the coast, the flowering trees of the plains, and those of the sides and
crowns of the highest hills towards the interior being alike tenanted by
it. It is an active, animated species, flitting with a darting flight
from tree to tree; threading the most thickly-leaved branches with a
variety of sprightly actions; clinging beneath as well as traversing the
upper side of the branch, for performing which its structure is
beautifully adapted.
I never succeeded in finding the nest of this species, although, from
its being very abundant on the Liverpool range at the period of the
breeding-season, I can venture to state this to be one of the parts of
the country in which it breeds, and that it evinces a decided partiality
to mountain districts, and hence during great droughts suffers
considerably from want of water; a fact I witnessed many times during my
visit to the mountains during the great drought of 1839: all the gulleys
and water-courses were then exhausted, and the natural beds of the
rivers were as dry as the most arid plains; and the deep clefts and
fissures in the rocks were the only resource for those animals of the
forest to whom water was essential to their existence. To these natural
basins this bird resorted in flocks of countless numbers, arriving in a
famishing state, not only in the morning and evening but at all hours of
the day, dashing down to drink quite regardless of my presence, although
seated within two yards of them.
The female of this species, as is the case with others of the genus, is
smaller than her mate, but exhibits no difference whatever in the
colouring of her plumage.
Crown of the head olive-yellow; throat bright yellow; a black line
commences at the base of the bill, surrounds the eye, and extends over
the ear-coverts; behind the ear springs a lengthened tuft of rich yellow
feathers; upper surface, wings and tail dark brown, with a tinge of
olive; primaries and tail-feathers margined with olive-yellow; chest and
under surface brownish yellow; bill black; irides reddish brown; feet
blackish brown.
The Plate represents a male and a female on a branch of the _Tecoma
Australis_, of the natural size.
[Illustration:
PTILOTIS CRATITIUS: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
PTILOTIS CRATITIUS, _Gould_.
Wattle-cheeked Honey-eater.
_Ptilotis cratitius_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 160.
I first met with this new species of Honey-eater on the 26th of June,
1839, on the ranges near the Upper Torrens in South Australia: it
appeared to be a most pugnacious bird, driving every other species from
the tree upon which it was feeding. I afterwards met with it on Kangaroo
Island and in the Belts of the Murray. In all these situations it
evinced a decided preference for the _Eucalypti_, among the smaller
branches and flowers of which it was busily engaged in extracting pollen
and honey from the flower-cups. The trees in the Belts of the Murray and
on Kangaroo Island are of a dwarf character, while those of the Upper
Torrens are very lofty; yet each appeared to be equally resorted to.
I have never seen this bird from any other parts of Australia than those
I have mentioned; further research may, however, enable us to assign to
it a much greater range of habitat. It is very closely allied to the
_Ptilotis auricomis_, but may at all times be distinguished from that,
as well as from every other known species of the group, by the
lengthened wattle, of a beautiful lilac-colour, which stretches from the
corner of the mouth and extends down the sides of the cheeks; after
death, this wattle, which is but slightly pendulous, becomes dry and
discoloured, so as to be scarcely distinguishable.
Of its nidification no information could be obtained.
The sexes are nearly alike in plumage, and both have the fleshy
appendage on the cheeks, but the female is somewhat smaller than her
mate.
Crown of the head grey; all the upper surface olive-green; wings and
tail brown, margined with greenish yellow; lores, a large space
surrounding the eye and the ear-coverts black, below which is a narrow
line of bright yellow; from the gape, down each side of the throat for
five-eighths of an inch, a naked fleshy appendage, free at the lower
end, of a beautiful lilac-colour and very conspicuous in the living
bird; anterior to this is a tuft of bright yellow feathers; throat and
under surface olive-yellow; irides and eyelash black; bill black; feet
blackish brown tinged with olive.
The Plate represents a male and a female on a branch of the beautiful
_Prostanthera lasianthos_, of the natural size.
[Illustration:
PTILOTIS ORNATUS: _Gould_.
_J. & E. Gould del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
PTILOTIS ORNATUS, _Gould_.
Graceful Ptilotis.
_Ptilotis ornatus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VI., 1838, p.
24.—Ibid., Syn. Birds of Australia, Part IV.
The first notice of this species of Honey-eater may be found in the
“Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1838,” as quoted above. The
specimen there characterized was the only one I had then seen, and
formed part of the fine collection of Fort Pitt at Chatham. It was
received from Western Australia, where the species appears to be
plentiful, being common at Swan River, and in all probability over the
whole of the present unknown country between that place and the River
Murray in South Australia, as I found it inhabiting the extensive belts
of dwarf _Eucalypti_ and other singular shrub-like trees which border
the lower part of that river, and this may possibly be the extreme limit
of its range in that direction. It was a source of much gratification to
myself to have unexpectedly found this elegant little bird in the rich
arboretum, which had already supplied me with so many novelties, both
animal and vegetable: among the latter I found the plant figured in the
accompanying Plate (_Pittosporum salicifolium_, R. Brown), not as one to
which the bird gives preference, but upon which it was occasionally
seen; the _Eucalypti_ being the trees to which the birds of this genus
more especially resort, among whose thick leafy branches and blossoms
they may at all times be observed actively engaged in searching for
insects, upon which, and the pollen and saccharine juices of the
flowers, they almost solely subsist. In the Belts of the Murray it was
confined to trees of a dwarf growth, while in the country in the
neighbourhood of Swan River I am informed it is seen on the topmost
branches of the gum- and mahogany-trees, clinging and flitting about the
blossoms, not unfrequently descending to the ground, and hopping about
beneath the branches and near the boles of the larger trees, doubtless
in search of insects.
It has rather a loud ringing and not unpleasing song, which is
constantly poured forth.
The nest is generally suspended from a horizontal forked branch,
frequently in an exposed situation, and is of a neat, small, open,
cup-shaped form, composed of fine vegetable fibres and grasses matted
together with spiders’ webs, and sometimes wool. The eggs are either two
or three in number, of a deep salmon colour, becoming paler at the
smaller end and minutely freckled with reddish brown, particularly at
the larger end; they are nine lines long by seven broad.
The female differs from the male in being somewhat less in size, and
those I collected had the nostrils, eyelash and basal portion of the
bill orange instead of black, as in the male; still I am not fully
satisfied that this orange colouring may not indicate immaturity, and
that the fully adult female may not have these, as in her mate.
Crown of the head, external edge of the wings, rump and tail-feathers
olive; back olive-brown; all the under surface greyish white, each
feather having a longitudinal mark of brown down the centre; under
tail-coverts lighter; on each side of the neck a lengthened tuft of rich
yellow feathers; eye black, surrounded in the male by a narrow black
eyelash except for a third of the space, behind which is yellow; feet
purplish brown; bill black.
The figures are of the natural size.
[Illustration:
PTILOTIS PLUMULUS: _Gould_.
_J. & E. Gould del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
PTILOTIS PLUMULUS, _Gould_.
Plumed Ptilotis.
_Ptilotis plumulus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., November 10, 1840.
The double tuft of black and yellow feathers situated on the sides of
the neck suggested the name of _plumulus_ for this species, whose range
of habitat appears to be confined to the western portions of Australia,
specimens never having been seen in any of the numerous collections from
the southern or from the north-west coast: had it advanced so far to the
eastward as the Belts of the Murray, in all probability I should have
discovered it, while investigating that region. In size it is rather
less than _Ptilotis ornatus_, and, independently of the accessory black
tuft on the sides of the neck, the breast is of a more delicate and
paler colour, with the feathers much more faintly marked with brown down
the centre. All the specimens I have were collected in the district of
York, about 60 miles eastward of Swan River, where it inhabits the
white-gum forests, resorting to the tops of the highest trees, and is
seldom to be seen on the ground. Its note is much varied, consisting of
a loud shrill shake, somewhat resembling the sportman’s pea-whistle,
continued without intermission for a great length of time. When
disturbed it flits among the branches with a quick darting flight; while
at other times, like the Miners (genus _Myzantha_), it soars from tree
to tree with the most graceful and easy movement.
Its small, elegant, cup-shaped nest is suspended from a slender
horizontal branch, frequently so close to the ground as to be reached by
the hand; it is formed of dried grasses lined with soft cotton-like buds
of flowers. The breeding-season continues from October to January; the
eggs being two in number, ten lines long by seven lines broad, of a pale
salmon colour, with a zone of a deeper tint at the larger end, and the
whole freckled with minute spots of a still darker hue. The stomach is
diminutive and slightly muscular, the food consisting of insects and
honey.
The sexes appear to present no difference in the colour of their
plumage; but the female, as is the case with the other members of the
genus, is considerably smaller than her mate.
Crown of the head and all the upper surface bright olive-yellow,
approaching to grey on the back; lores black; ear-coverts, throat and
under surface pale yellowish grey, faintly striated with a darker tint;
behind the ear two tufts, the upper of which is narrow and black; the
lower, which is more spread over the sides of the neck, of a beautiful
yellow; primaries and tail-feathers brown, margined with bright
olive-yellow; irides very dark reddish brown; bill black; legs and feet
apple-green.
The figures are male and female of the natural size, on one of the
Acacias of Western Australia.
[Illustration:
PTILOTIS FLAVESCENS: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
PTILOTIS FLAVESCENS, _Gould_.
Yellow-tinted Honey-eater.
_Ptilotis flavescens_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VII. p. 144.
The only example of this new species that I have seen is from the north
coast of Australia, where it was procured and subsequently presented to
me by my friend Benjamin Bynoe, Esq., late of Her Majesty’s Surveying
Ship the Beagle. It differs from all the other members of its genus in
the uniform yellow colouring of its plumage, for which reason I have
assigned to it the specific appellation of _flavescens_,—a term
indicative of the colouring by which it may be readily distinguished
from its congeners.
I regret to say that nothing whatever is at present known of its habits
or economy.
Head and all the under surface delicate citron-yellow, the yellow
prevailing over the head; immediately under the ear-coverts a spot of
blackish brown, posterior to which is a spot of bright yellow; the
remainder of the plumage olive-grey.
The figures are of the natural size.
[Illustration:
PTILOTIS FLAVA: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
PTILOTIS FLAVA, _Gould_.
Yellow Honey-eater.
_Ptilotis flava_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part X. p. 136.
This new species may be distinguished from all its congeners by the
uniform colouring of its plumage; it is in fact a most remarkable bird,
inasmuch as I scarcely recollect one similarly coloured in any genus
that has come under my notice. I regret that, as regards the history of
this Honey-eater, its range over the Australian continent, its habits
and economy, all is a perfect blank; a single specimen is all I have at
present seen; this was procured by one of the officers of Her Majesty’s
Ship the Beagle, while employed on the north coast. The names of Captain
Stokes, Lieutenant Emery and Mr. Bynoe have been repeatedly mentioned in
this work, with feelings of personal gratification that their labours
have been useful to science. It now only remains for me to describe the
colours of this bird; having I trust thrown out a sufficient hint to
those who may visit its native country, and may have opportunities of
observing it, that any contributions to its history will be very
desirable.
Head and all the under surface delicate citron-yellow, the yellow
prevailing over the head; immediately under the ear-coverts is a spot of
blackish brown, posterior to which is a patch of bright yellow, the
remainder of the plumage olive-grey.
The Plate represents the bird in two positions of the natural size.
[Illustration:
PTILOTIS PENICILLATUS: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
PTILOTIS PENICILLATUS, _Gould_.
White-plumed Honey-eater.
_Meliphaga penicillata_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part IV. p.
143; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part I.
This species, which is rarely met with in New South Wales, is very
abundant in South Australia; I met with it even in the streets and
gardens of Adelaide, where it strongly reminded me of the Sparrow of our
own island; and it doubtless enjoys a wide range over the interior of
the country. From what I observed of its habits, it appears to differ
from the generality of Honey-eaters in the partiality it evinces for the
ground; for although most of its time is spent among the leafy branches
of the gums and wattles, where its movements are characterized by ease
and grace, it is often to be seen hopping about under the trees in
search of insects and seeds, which with the pollen of the flowers of the
_Eucalypti_ and _Acaciæ_ constitute its food.
Its silvery white neck-plumes present a character by which it is at once
distinguished from all other known species. The smaller size of the
female is the only external difference between the sexes, for when fully
adult their markings are precisely alike. Some of the specimens killed
had the bill entirely black, while others had the base of that organ of
a yellowish white, which is doubtless indicative of immaturity.
Its slightly-constructed nest, formed of grasses and wool, is
cup-shaped, and is suspended by the rim, like those of the other
Honey-eaters; I ascertained that the eggs are two in number, but
unfortunately did not succeed in procuring specimens of them.
The figures in the accompanying Plate represent the birds coloured so
closely after nature as to render the following description almost
unnecessary. The beautiful tree upon which they are placed is one of the
numerous Acacias that abound in the interior of the country.
Sides of the face and ear-coverts pale yellow; behind the ear-coverts a
small tuft of white silky feathers; upper surface rich yellowish grey,
the outer edges of the quill- and tail-feathers tinged with a richer
colour; under surface light yellowish brown; bill black; legs purplish
flesh-colour; irides very dark brown.
The figures are of the natural size.
[Illustration:
PTILOTIS FUSCUS: _Gould_.
_J. & E. Gould del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
PTILOTIS FUSCUS, _Gould_.
Fuscous Honey-eater.
_Meliphaga fusca_, Gould in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part II.
_Ptilotis fusca_, Ib., Part IV.
This species of Honey-eater, which is not distinguished by any
brilliancy in its plumage, is abundantly dispersed over the thick
brushes of New South Wales; and in the months of August and September,
when the beautiful _Tecoma_ upon which it is figured is in blossom, it
may be seen flitting about among the thick clusters of the pendent
flowers in search of insects, which are sometimes captured while on the
wing, but more generally extracted from the tubular florets.
I observed nothing remarkable in its economy, or in which it differed
from the other members of the group. Like them it is generally found
among the flowers and the most leafy branches of the trees. I have never
seen it on the plains, nor have I received specimens from any other part
of Australia than New South Wales, where it is to be met with both in
winter and summer.
The sexes are very nearly alike in colouring; in fact, with the
exception of the female being a trifle smaller than her mate, no outward
distinction is visible.
The whole of the upper surface greyish brown with a tinge of olive; a
ring of black feathers surrounds the eye; ear-coverts blackish brown;
behind the ear a small patch of yellow; throat, chest, and under surface
light greyish brown; irides light yellow; eyelash bright yellow; gape
and corners of the mouth yellow; bill dull yellow at the base and black
at the tip; feet fleshy brown.
The Plate represents a male and female of the natural size on the
_Tecoma Australis_.
[Illustration: