MELILE S TES JXJOL.OPHU®. SabaA.
MELILESTES ILIOLOPHUS , Saivad.
Long’-plumed Honey-eater.
Meliléstes tliolophm. S a lv a i. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, vii. p. 951 (1875), xvi. p. 75 (1880).—Id . Om. Papuasia
e delle Molueche, li. p . 310 (ISSI), iii. p. 543 (1 8 8 2 ).— Sharpe, Jo nm . Lmn. Soc., Zool. xvi. p. 437
(18821
Arachnothera ilwhphim, Gadow, Cat. Birds In Brit. Mus. ìx . p. 3, pi. i. fig. 2 (1884).
h e genus Melilestes has been united by Dr. Gadow to the genus Amdmolhera-, but g our opinion Count
alvadori was right in placing it with the Meliphagid* or family of Honey-suckers, rather than with the
un-birds or Nectariniid*, where it is located by Dr. Gadow. The long fluffy plumage and the silky tufts on
le flanks are characters which ally the genus to the Honey-suckers, though the general appearance of
le birds is very much that of the Spider-hunters {Arachmthmt).
Count Salvador! includes four species in his genus o f which the present and M. a fim i
a species summarily suppressed without just cause hy Dr. Gadow, who has never seen a specimen) are
Binguished by their greyish-olive underparts. A fifth species has been discovered since Salvador,
frote, which is figured in the present work. B B B U M
The present species was discovered in the islauds of Jobi and Miosnoum, m t ie ay o ee vin , y
)r Beccari, and we cannot find any marked difference between some o f the typical examples now in the
British Museum and others obtained in South-eastern New Guinea, where it has been obtained by
dr. Goldie and Mr. H. O. Forbes in the Astrolabe Mountains. The following description is from one
if Mr. Goldie’s specimens:— .
Adult. General colour above dull olive-green, the head a little duller than the back ; feathers of the lower
jack and rump very long and silky, and a little lighter than the rest o f the back; wing-coverts like the bac ;
he primary-coverts and quills dusky brown, edged with olive-green like the back, the secondaries more
broadly; tail dusky H M H and feathers round the eye ashy olive; ear-coverts lighter olive; under
surface o f body very pale yellowish, ashy on the cheeks and throat; sides of the body with long silky plumes
of paler yellow; under tail-coverts like the abdomen, and washed with pale olive-green; axil anes light
yellow like the sides o f the body; under wing-coverts light ashy brown, washed with yellowish olive; quills
dusky below, whitish along the edge o f the inner web. Total length 3-9 inches, culmeu 0-85, wing 2 7 ,
tail 1*45, tarsus 0-85. . H c .
The figures in the Plate are drawn from two specimens procured by Mr. H. 0 . Forbes in the Sogen