PTBLOMS FLAY03TBIATA, GouM.
PTILOTIS FLAVO STRIATA, Gould.
Yellow-streaked Honey-eater.
Ptilopis flavostriata, Gould, P. Z . S. 1875, p. 316.
I f Australia is peculiar for its Lyre-birds and for its mound-building Megapodes and Brush-Turkeys, it certainly
presents a no less marked feature in the extraordinary development of the family o f Meliphagidte (or Honey-
eaters) within its limits. Nor can we suppose that the number o f species known to us from that continent
is yet exhausted, seeing that not a year passes without our receiving some notable addition to our list of
the Australian species of this group o f birds. The one which I have now the pleasure to introduce to my
readers is from the neighbourhood, of Rockingham Bay, in Queensland, and was sent to me for examination
by Mr. Waller o f Brisbane, to whom it appeared undescribed. Of this there is no doubt; and I have
accordingly described the species under the name o f Jtmo-slriala, on account of the yellow chest-streaks
which are such a conspicuous feature in thc bird’s appearance.
The following is my original description o f the species :—
Head and hind neck dusky blackish, with a distinct shade of olivaceous on the crown, leaving a pure black
patch on each side of the occiput; hind neck distinctly marked with triangular spots of dull white ; mantle
straw-yellow, the bases to the feathers dusky brown ; scapulars brown, with large triangular whitish spots ;
lower back and rump brown, with dull olive margins to the feathers; upper tail-coverts and tail brown, paler
at tip, the feathers narrowly margined with olive; wing-coverts brown, with large triangular whitish spots
as on the scapulars, the greater series dark brown, tipped with whitish and margined with whity brown ;
quills dark brown, externally edged with olive and slightly tipped with whitish ; region o f the eye bare and
yellow; the few feathers on the ear-coverts hoary; cheeks dull olivaceous bnff, running into a distinct tuft
of bright yellow; throat greyish white, washed with olive on the lower part; chest olivaceous, distinctly
streaked with shaft-lines o f bright yellow, the breast paler, the feathers being brown with broad triangular
longitudinal spots o f white; flanks and under tail-coverts light brown, washed with olive; under wing-
coverts yellowish buff; the lower surface of the wings and tail ashy brown, with broad rufous-buff margins
to the inner webs. Total length 71 inches, bill H, wing 31, tail 3, tarsus HThe
figures in the Plate are o f the size o f life.