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. 196. No. 54.
Meliphaga chrysotis, Lewin, Birds of New Holl., pi. v.—Yig. 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.
T h e 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 o f the Liverpool and other ranges o f 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 o f 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 o f 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 o f 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 o f 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 o f rivers, and attracting a
corresponding amount of insect life, is often visited by the Ptilotis chrysotis, which may -be observed busily
engaged in search o f its prey, heedless of the proximity o f 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 o f size that is observable
between the sexes o f 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 o f water; like that o f the rest of the gemjs, it was
cup-shaped in form, suspended by the brim, and very neatly made o f 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 o f 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.