104 Dr. O. Finscli's Ornithological 



at all shy. It is always moving about^ Ayii^g from branch 

 to branchy and utters several notes resembling those of our 

 Nuthatch (Sitta) and Titmouse [Parus], varied with some 

 melodious whistlings^ which, taken together, form a sort of 

 song^ especially about daybreak, when a greater number of 

 songsters are at work. 



I found an unfinished nest of the Myzomela. It was half- 

 cup-shaped, made of fine fibres and mosses, placed in a forked 

 twig of a mangrove, about ten feet above the water, and inge- 

 niously protected from sun and rain by one of the strong and 

 compact leaves of the tree. As is the case with most tropical 

 birds, there does not seem to be a certain fixed breeding- 

 season ; for at the same time that I found the nest, I got also 

 young ones just able to fly, and old ones in nuptial as well 

 as in moulting-dress. The young birds of Myzomela are 

 smoky black, with some traces of red feathers on the neck, 

 shoulders, and back. The female is like the male, but a little 

 smaller and less brilliantly coloured. Next to Myzomela, or 

 perhaps even more common, is Calornis pacificus. These 

 birds keep in pairs or parties of from three to four, and fre- 

 quent the gardens, plundering the fruit-trees, chiefly the 

 Carica and bananas. Calornis is rather a silent bird, uttering 

 only a few short Starling-like notes, and in manner and 

 habits much resembles our Starling. I obtained young birds, 

 distinguished by their dull blackish plumage, with pale edg- 

 ings to the feathers underneath. Young birds have the iris 

 whitish, or yellowish ; but in the old ones it is invariably of a 

 bright sulphur»yellow. Both sexes are alike. I tried in vain 

 to get examples of Lamprotornis (melius Sturnoides) corvina 

 of Kittlitz. Kittlitz speaks of obtaining two specimens in 

 the " mountainous woods of the interior," where the species 

 is "solitary and very rare." The natives to whom I de- 

 scribed this bird did not know it, as was likewise the case 

 with the gay-coloured little Erythrura trichroa, which Kittlitz 

 also got in Kushai, and which I afterwards obtained at Ponape. 



I may mention that the Long-taiJed Cuckoo obtained 

 by Kittlitz in Kushai, and subsequently at Uleai, is un- 

 doubtedlv Fyudynamis faifensis, a species which I found in 



