90 ON THE GENUS MYZOMELA. 



also a considerably smaller bird ; the bill is shorter and more slender ; 

 the tarsi are not so stout, and the claws smaller. From Myzomela erythro- 

 cephala it is easily distinguishable by the uniform black of the lower parts. 



Mr. Layard notes the " beak black, legs very dark brown, iris dark 

 brown," and food " insects." Both specimens were obtained at Hepenehe, 

 the chief town in the island of Lifu, the largest of the Loyalty Islands. 



Whether M. erythrocephala of Marie's list (Ibis, 1877, p. 362) is this 

 bird, remains uncertain ; as yet, M. caledonica is the only Myzomela 

 certainly known to be found on New Caledonia itself. 



23. MYZOMELA CHERMESINA. (Plate III. fig. 1.) 



Myzomela chermesina, Gray & Mitch. G. B. i. pi. 38 (1840) (fig. mala) ; 

 Gray, Cat. B. Trop. Isl. p. 11 (1859) ; Forbes, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 352. 



c? ad. fusco-nigricans, alis caudaque nitore nonnullo metallico ; mento, 

 gula, pectore lateribusque abdominis, cum dorso uropygioque nitide 

 coccineis, plumis ad \asin nigris ; subalaribus nigris, remigum pogonio 

 interno griseo ; rostro nigro, pedibus brunneo-corneis. Long, iota circa 

 4|, oil. 3, caud. 2, rostri ||, tarsi (poll. Angl.). 



Hob. in insulis Pacificis E-otumah et Mallikollo. 



This species was first figured by Messrs. Gray and Mitchell in their 

 * Genera of Birds ; ' but no description was given, the species being only 

 mentioned in the list of the species of Myzomela ; nor was any habitat 

 indicated. Bonaparte, and Gray later on, in his ' Hand-list ' (vol. i. no. 

 1989), gave "New Guinea?" as the locality, without any apparent 

 reason for so doing. The bird was never recognized agciin till last year, 

 when Mr. Sclater received two specimens, an adult male and a nearly 

 adult female*, from the Eev. G. Brown, C.M.Z.S., of the Wesleyan 

 P. Z. S. 1879, Mission, together with some other birds, from the small island of Eotu- 

 p. 274. mah, north of the Fijis. Fortunately Gray's type is still in existence in 

 the gallery of the British Museum ; and on comparing the birds from 

 Eotumah with it, it was at once evident that they were of the same 

 species, though Gray's figure represents a bird with a uniformly scarlet 

 underside. About the same time Mr. Sharpe got a specimen (from 

 which the figure is taken) of the same bird, apparently identical in every 

 respect, from the island of Mallikollo (in my paper, 1. c., by a mistake I 

 wrote Erromango) in the New Hebrides, where it was obtained by Mr. 

 Wykeham Perry, H.M.S. ' Pearl.' The species thus has a wide range, 

 though I believe the above-mentioned four specimens (which are all 

 nearly or quite adult) are as yet the only ones of this bird ever brought 

 to Europe. The female is similar to the male in colour, but a little 

 duller (</. loc. tit. p. 353). 



24. MYZOMELA ROSENBEEGI. 



Myzomela rosenbergi, Schleg. Ned. Tijd. Dierk. iv. p. 38 (1871) ; 

 * These birds are now in the Paris Museum. 



