1879.] mr. w. a. forbes on the genus myzomela, 259 



1 . Myzomela sanguinolenta. 



1 Scarlet Creeper, Lath. Gen. Syn. i. pt. 2, p. 740 (1782). 



? Certkia rubra, Gmel. S. N. i. p. 479 (1788). 



Sanguineous Creeper, Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. ii. p. 167, t. 130 

 (1801). 



Certhia sanguinolenta. Lath. Ind. Orn. Siippl. p. xxxvii (1801). 



Cochineal Creeper, Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. ii. p. 167 (1801). 



Certhia dibapha, Lath. Ind. Orn. Suppl. p. xxxvii (1801). 



Red-rumped Creeper, Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. ii. p. 169 (1801). 



Certhia erythropygia. Lath. Ind. Orn. Suppl. p. xxxviii (1801). 



Certhia australasice. Leach, Zool. Misc. i. p. 30, t. 11 (1814). 



Myzomela cardinalis, V. & H. (nee Gm.), Linn. Trans, xv. p. 316 

 (1826). 



Myzomela sanguinolenta, GId. B. A. iv. pi. 63 ; id. Handb. B. 

 A. i. p. 555. 



(S ad. capite, dorso cum uropygio, pectore et lateribus abdominis 

 coccineis ; macula anteoculari, alis caudaque nigris ; alarum 

 tectricibus conspicue alhido, remigibiis olivaceo-griseo limbatis ; 

 abdomine sordide Jlavido ; subcaudalibus griseo alboque variis ; 

 rostro nigro, j)edibus cornets. Long. al. 2 4, caud. 1'6, rostr. 

 0-45, tars. 0-5 {poll. Angl.). 



$ sordide griseo-brunnea, subtus dilutior ; dorso et uropygio 

 rufescenti tinctis ; alis caudaque fuscis, remigibus olivaceo, 

 tectricibus alarum pallide brunneo marginatis. 



Hab. in Australia. 



The phases of plumage in this species, the type of the genus (for 

 M. cardinalis, apud Vig. & Horsf. /. s. c, is this bird), seem to have 

 caused some confusion amongst the older authors. It seems to me 

 that in all probabihty Latham's "Scarlet Creeper," on which 

 Gmelin founded Certhia rubra in his edition of the ' Systema Na- 

 turae,' really applies to this species, the description " lower part of 

 belly and vent white," together with the size (" of a Wren ") and 

 the locality ("from some part of the South Seas ") quite coinciding 

 with this bird, and not at all with M. cardinalis, of which, in his 

 Ind. Orn. (i. p. 290, 1790), Latham treated it as being the female. 

 Besides this, Latham bestowed at least three other Latin names 

 (each with its equivalent vernacular) on this little bird. 



Myzomela sanguinolenta is perhaps most nearly allied to M. chloro- 

 pteru, which differs, however, as below pointed out. Only the males 

 possess the beautiful red plumage ; and iu these, if not quite adult, 

 the variegation of each breast-feather, which is grey at the base, 

 then paler, and red only at the tip, produces the somewhat mottled 

 appearance of the red vniderparts. 



According to Mr. Gould, the irides are " dark brown." 



Myzomela sanguinolenta is the commonest species of Myzomela 

 in AustraUa, and is famiharly known to the colonists as the " Little 

 Soldier." Mr. Ramsay, in his list of Australian Birds (Proc. 

 Linn. Soc. N. S. "W. ii. 1877), records it from Rockingham Bay, 

 Port Denison, the Wide-Bay District, the Richmond- and Clarence- 



17* 



