MTZ OMJEXiA ISfIG KITA , Gray.
MYZOMELA NIG RITA, Gray.
Black Honey-eater.
Myzomela nigrita, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1868, pp. 173, 190.—Id . Cat. Mamm. & B irds o f N ew Guinea, pp. 23,
55 (1859).— Id . Proc. Zool. Soc. 1859, p. 155, 1861, p. 434.— Rosenb. Jo u rn . fu r Orn. 1864, p. 122.—
Gray, Han d -list o f Birds, i. p. 154, no. 1988 (1869).—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, viii. p. 400
(1875), xii. p . 334 (1878).— Id . P ro c .'Z o o l. Soc. 1878, p. 97.—W. A. Forbes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1879,
p. 265.—D ’Albert. & Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, xiv. p . 75 (1879).—Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc.
New South "Wales, iv. p. 469 (1879).— Rosenb. Malay. Arch. p. 553 (1879).—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic.
Genov, xvi. p . 71 (1880).— Id . O rn. Papuasia e delle Molucche, ii. p. 291 (1881).— Id. Rep. Yoy.
‘ Challenger,’ vol. ii. Birds, p. 81 (1881).—Sharpe, Jo u rn . Linn. Soc., Zool. xvi. p. 437 (1883).—Gadow,
Cat. Birds in B rit. Mus. ix. p . 139 (1884).
Nectarinia nigrita, Finsch, Neu-Guinea, p. 163 (1865).
Myzomela erythrocephala (nec Gould), Meyer, Sitz. k . Akad. Wien, lxx. p. 204 (1874).
Myzomela meyeri, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, vii. p. 947 (1875).
Myzomela pluto, Salvad. MSS., Forbes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1879, p. 266.
T h i s peculiar little Honey-eater was discovered by Mr. A. R . Wallace in the Aru Islands, and was described
by the late Mr. G. R. Gray, who omitted to mention in his description anything about the white
under wing-coverts, an error corrected by Count Salvadori. It is replaced in the Solomon Islands by
a closely allied form, M. tristrami, in the Admiralty group by M. pammelcena, and in New Ireland by
M . ramsayi. The latter differs in its smoky black colour, and the first-named by its yellowish bill.
Considerable difference in size is exhibited in a series o f this species, and the late Mr. W. A. Forbes, who
wrote a most useful memoir on the genus Myzomela, has given a table o f measurements to show that the
birds from New Guinea and the islands in the Bay o f Geelvink (Jobi and Miosnoum) are the same, as the
typical examples from the Aru Islands. Count Salvadori also adopts this view, hut Dr. Gadow tries to prove
that M. nigrita occurs in Western and Southern New Guinea and the Aru Islands, being replaced by
M. pammelcena on the north coast o f New Guinea with its islands, the Admiralty Islands, and the Solomon
group also.
Besides the islands o f Jobi and Miosnoum, the species has been found at Dorei by Mr. Wallace, and
at Rubi in North-western New Guinea by Dr. Meyer. In South-eastern New Guinea Signor D’Aibertis
met with it on the Fly River, and it has been procured at East Cape by Mr. Huustein. More recently
Mr. Forbes obtained specimens on the Astrolabe Mountains.
The following is the description o f a pair of birds sent to us by the last-named gentleman
Adult male. General colour black, both above and below; quills and tail-feathers black; axillaries and
under wing-coverts white, the edge of the wing black: “ bill black; legs and feet lavender-blue; iris
black” (H . O. Forbes). Total length 4 inches, culmen 0 -55, wing 2 ’25, tail 1'55, tarsus 0 55.
Adult female. Different from the male. General colour above dusky brown washed with olive; wing-
coverts and quills dusky blackish, edged with o live; upper tail-coverts like the back; tail-feathers blackish;
crown of head like the back, the forehead dull crimson ; lores and sides of face dull crimson, lighter on the
cheeks and throat; ear-coverts dusky like the crown ; under surface o f body dusky, washed with olive, the
centre o f the abdomen olive whitish ; sides of body and llanks dusky ; thighs and under tail-coverts dusky ;
under wing-coverts and axillaries white; quills below dusky, white along the inner ed g e : “ bill black ;
legs and feet dark yellow ; iris blue-grey ”\H . O. Forbes). Total length 3 '7 inches, culmen 0 ’55, wing 2 -0,
tail 1’3, tarsns 0*55.
The Plate represents a male aud female o f the natural size, drawn from the pair o f specimeus collected
by Mr. H. O. Forbes in the Astrolabe Mountains.
[R. B. S.]