him weighed 10 lbs ; but this is some error, for I have weighed
more than one hundred, and have in this number only met with
three exceeding 5 lbs in weight, and none of these by more
than 4 ozs.
Adult Females.—Length, 25 to 27-5 ; expanse, 47 to 51 ; wing,
I4'25 to 15-25 ; tail from vent, 7 7 5 to 9/25 ; tarsus, 3-15 to 3 6 ;
bill from gape, 2 to 25. Weight, 2ft. 10 ozs. to 31b. 12 ozs.
The irides vary from pale to bright yellow, and it is the
more necessary to note this because firee figures them red,
and Dresser as brown, and even our own artist has not made
them the clear light yellow that they are.
The legs and feet are pale yellow, never clear and bright, mostly
with a dingy, or greenish, or plumbeous tinge, at times creamy ;
the bill is blackish or dusky above, paler, usually greenish or
yellowish, on gape and lower mandible.
T H E PLATE would be really good if the chromo-lithographers
had not reproduced the runningof the black on the
neck, which unfortunately occurred in Mr. Neale's painting,
and if human art could do justice to the inconceivably delicate
pencillings that adorn the entire upper surface. The specimen
figured was a very brightly coloured one ; the majority are
greyer and less rufous, especially on the front of the neck and
on the tail. The plate is wrongly lettered. I consider Honiara
a recognizably distinct sub-genus.