MYZQMELA SCLAXEKI, Fortes.
MYZOMELA SCLATERI , Forbes.
Sclater’s Honey-eater.
M y ^ l a sciatori, Forbes, Proc. M B B | I ■ ■ j jB B H iiM .Tourn. f. Om. 1880, p . 1 9 8 ,-S a lv a d . Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova, m P- 72, no. 8 (18 8 0 ). Id.
T h i s elegant little bird is another o f the interesting discoveries made by that well-known collector
the Rev George Brown in New Britain and the neighbouring islands. It was discovered by him on
island o f Palaki.ru, a small island in mid-channel between New Britain and Duke-of-York Island. It was
first described by Mr, W. A. Forbes, in his excellent Synopsis of the Melipbagine genus Mymmea
( published in the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ for 1879), where he describes the single male
b id at that time known. “ At first,” writes Mr. Forbes, “ I had some doubts as to this individual being
adult- but now, from the absence of red feathers on any other part, and from the singularly bright
and shining colour o f those on the throat, I have little doubt that it has very nearly or quite attained
its full plumage. Myzomela sclaten hardly admits o f being compared with any other species of the group
2 « M y I k upperside and the red being confined to the throat rendering ,t quite unlike any species
^ I n May of the same year Dr. Sclater received a further collection from Mr. Brown, which contained a
male and a female o f this new Myzomela, and amply demonstrated its distinctness from any other known
species of the genus. It belongs to the section o f the genus where the species have the undersurface either
whitish or greyish-olive, and, further, to the division of black-fronted species comprising M. mlnerata,
M . jugularis, and M. la fa rg ii; but from all of these it may be told by its blackish head.
The following description is translated from Mr. Forbes’s essay above mentioned .
“ I Upper surface o f the body, with the wings and tail, dusky blackish, the hea darker; the
feathers o f the lower back yellow at the tip; quills, wing-coverts, and tail-feathers externally edged with
dive-yellow; throat bright crimson ; undersurface of body greyish yellow, the throat rather duller; under
wing-coverts and inner margin o f quills white ; bill black ; feet dusky.
Total length about 4-5 inches, wing 8-65, tail 1-7, bfUfO-6, tarsus 0-55.
The adult female is described by Mr. Sclater as follows : -U p p e r surface dark olive
wings, and tail blackish, the latter externally edged with olive; underneath greyish yellow,
B M M IM iiM Sclater for the loan o f male and female birds, from which the Ufe-sixed