IOO 



Wallace imported it under the name of Dusky Mynah and from 

 its utterance, chattering, laughing-like notes, as well as bell-like 

 calls and petulant-like drawn out notes, one can readily under- 

 stand this appellation. When it first came into my possession I 

 put it into an enclosure 4I- x 2| x ^ feet high, with a very fine 

 Shama, which has been with me about three years ; for a few days 

 the Shama ruled the roost, but this was only temporary, for on 

 my return from business one evening, after they had been about 

 a week together, I found, to my great regret, the Shama partially 

 disabled and, though it is now all right again, it is very evident I 

 only rescued it just in time. Now the Dusky or Obscure Honey- 

 eater enjoys an enclosure 3x4x6 feet high to itself (young J 1 

 I think), and is quite happy, contented, and improving in appear- 

 ance daily. Its flight and agility among the branches is graceful 

 beyond description, and it is also of fine contour and of a reacliy 

 carriage. You have only to come within its range of vision for 

 it to call out, presumably for mealworms, and its petulant pro- 

 tests are both loud and strong if you do not satisfy its wants. It 

 is closely allied to the Bell Bird {Ma?iorhina melanophrys), but its 

 deepest bell-like call is not anything like so sonorous as that of 

 the Bell Bird. 



Description: My bird is evidently immature as yet, and 

 the following description may have to be slightly altered at a 

 later date. The upper surface is mostly dusky-grey, with the 

 centres of most of the feathers brownish, but the combination of 

 the colours is a very soft one, and the consequent variegation is 

 not striking; rump and upper tail-coverts whitish-grey, wings 

 and tail olive-brown, with the external bases of some of the 

 flights greenish, and tips of tail feathers whitish; forehead, 

 yellowish-olive; lores, line below the eye, and ear-coverts black- 

 ish ; top and sides of head, throat, and entire under-surface grey, 

 each feather being edged with silvery-grey, imparting a beautiful 

 and soft crescentic-undulated appearance to these parts ; ventral 

 region whitish ; the bill which is long, curved and very wide at the 

 base, is bright yellow : this is also the colour of the bare skin 

 round the eye and bare patch on each side of the throat ; legs 

 and feet dull orange. Total length about 9^ inches, tail about 

 4 inches. 



