PHRTGILUS. 



787 



Meknodera tvpica, Bp. Consp. i. p. 470 (1850) ; Gould, P. Z. S. 



1859, p. 95'. 

 Phrygifus meknoderus, Scl. P. Z. S. 1860, p. 385 ; Abbott, Ibis, 1861, 



p." 153; Scl. Cat. Amer. B. p. Ill (1862) ; id.$ Sal v. Ibis, 1868, 



p. 186; Gray, Hand-l. B. ii. p. 90, no. 7320 (1870) ; Scl. fy Saly. 



Nomencl. Av. Neotr. p. 31 (1873); Scl. Rep. Voy. ' Challenger? ii. 



Birds, p. 100 (1881). 



Adult male. General colour above yellowish green, a little lighter 

 on the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts ; wing-coverts 

 brighter olive-yellow, with grey tips to the median and greater 

 coverts ; bas'ard-wing and primary-coverts dusky brown, edged with 

 grey ; quills dusky brown, edged with olive-yellow, brighter on the 

 primaries ; centre tail-feathers yellowish green, the remainder dusky 

 brown, edged with yellowish green ; the outer feathers yellow, with a 

 dusky mark at the end of the outer web, the penultimate feather with a 

 long dusky mark along the end of the inner web, much increasing 

 in extent on the next feather, where the yellow is confined to the 

 outer web and a small portion of the inner one ; crown of head and 

 hind neck ashy grey ; lores black, surmounted by a short white eye- 

 brow ; eyelid black, with a streak of white below joined to the 

 cheeks; ear-coverts dark ashy grej ; ; cheeks white, extending back- 

 wards on to the sides of the neck : throat black, followed by a pale 

 yellow collar ; sides of neck pale ashy grey ; under surface of body 

 from the fore neck downwards dull yellow ; sides of breast dark 

 ashy grey ; lower abdomen ashy whitish ; sides of body grey, the 

 flanks with a few indistinct dusky stripes ; thighs ashy white ; 

 under tail-coverts pale yellowish ; under wing-coverts and axillaries 

 yellow, like the breast ; quills below dusky, yellow along the inner 

 web. Total length 6 inches, culmen - 5, wing 3 - 55, tail 2*4, 

 tarsus 0*85, 



The whiter plumage of the adult male only differs from the summer 

 plumage in having the whole of the feathering obscured by ashy or 

 ashy brown ; the back is ashy brown, strongly mottled with black 

 centres to the feathers ; the greater coverts and inner secondaries 

 tipped with whitish grey on the outer web ; the black throat ob- 

 scured by ashy tips to the feathers ; and the yellow of the under 

 surface obscured by grey margins to the feathers. 



The trace of winter plumage occasionally seen on summer spe- 

 cimens seems to indicate that the full plumage is assumed by the 

 abrasion or wearing off of the tips to the feathers, instead of by a 

 direct moult. 



Adult female. Different from the male. General colour above 

 brown, rather more reddish on the lower back and rump, strongly 

 mottled with black centres to the feathers ; scapulars like the back ; 

 lesser wing-coverts olive-yellow ; median and greater coverts dusky 

 brown, externally washed with yellowish olive, the latter with 

 brown, both series being tipped with white ; bastard-wing dark 

 brown, narrowly edged with whitish ; primary-coverts and quills 

 brown, edged with olive-yellow, brighter on the primaries, the 

 secondaries margined with brown, whitish towards their ends ; 



3e2 



