Honetj -eater from Rennell Island. 121 



WOODFORDIA SUPERCILIOSA, Sp. IIOV. 



General colour above brown^ washed with dull olive- 

 green, which is brighter on the lower back, rump, and upper 

 tail-coverts ; upper wing-coverts like the back, the quills 

 dusky-brown, externally margined with dull olive-green ; 

 tail-feathers dusky-brown, indistinctly margined with dull 

 olive-green ; base of the forehead whitish ; a broad patch in 

 front and a ring round the eye bare of feathers^ above the 

 latter a well-defined white eyebrow ; ear-coverts and throat 

 ashy-white ; sides of the neck and remainder of the under 

 surface and under tail-coverts dull ashy-white, washed with 

 pale olive-brown ; bill yellowish-brown, the under mandiblcj 

 except at the tip, of a clearer yellow ; wrinkled skin in front 

 of, and round the eye blackish ; legs and feet light greenish- 

 olive, soles of feet yellow. Total length in the flesh 6 inches ; 

 wing 30; tail 2-0; bill 075 ; tarsus 0-9. 



Habitat. Kennell Island, Solomon Group. 



Type in the Australian Museum, Sydney. 



The above description is taken from a spirit-specimen. 



Owing to its large bill, short tail, thick tarsus, and stout 

 and fleshy feet, I was doubtful even of the family to which 

 this bird belonged until I had examined its tongue, which is 

 deeply grooved down the centre, bifid and brush-like at the 

 tip. One, however, of its chief characteristics is the bare 

 ring round, and the wrinkled skin in front of, the eye, 

 showing an affinity to the genera Melidectes and Meliphotes, 

 but both of these have the skin on the sides of the face 

 smooth and the bare space larger behind than in front of 

 the eye. In the total absence of the first primary, Woodfordia 

 resembles the genus Zosterops." 



At my request the Curator of the Australian Museum, 

 Sydney, had a drawing prepared for me which has not, up 

 to the present time, been published. I sent this drawing to 

 the late Dr. P. L. Sclater in August 1909, and in returning 

 it to me he wrote : " It is a very curious bird, and I have 

 never seen anything like it.^' With the help of the photo- 

 graph and the coloured sketch, Mr. Gronvold has prepared 



