260 MR. W. A. FORBES ON THE GENUS MYZOMELA. [Mar. 4, 



River Districts, New S. Wales, the interior, Victoria, and S. Australia ; 

 so that it ranges over the greater part of Eastern Australia. 



Mr. Ramsay has given us a good account of the habits and nesting 

 of this species near Sydney, where it is a summer visitor, arriving in 

 October and November, in 'The Ibis' for 18G5 (p. 304). 



2. Myzomela caledonica, n. sp. 



Myzomela sanguinolenta (ex Nova Caledonia) auct. 



(S prcEcedenti simillima, sed tectricibus alarum marginibus al- 

 bidis carens. 



Hab. in Nova Caledonia. 



Mus. H. B. Tristram. 



The Myzomela from New Caledonia, although no doubt very 

 closely aUied to the preceding Australian species, is, I think, fairly 

 entitled to rank as a distinct species ; and I have therefore separated 

 it under the above name. My attention was first directed to this 

 form by a specimen kindly lent me by Canon Tristram, and shot 

 by Mr. Layard near Noumea. This bird, a fully-plumaged male, 

 differs from a considerable number of Australian specimens with 

 ■which I have compared it, in the almost entire absence of the con- 

 spicuous greyish-white margins to the feathers of the wing-coverts, 

 so that they are nearly entirely black, with only a trace of olive- 

 colour at the margins. Besides this, the red colour of the body is 

 hardly so bright, and extends a little further down on the abdomen, 

 and the margins to the quills are more of an olive-yellow. The size is 

 about the same (wing 2-25), Australian specimens varying a little in 

 this respect. Canon Tristram writes me that he has six specimens 

 of the New-Caledonian bird, and that the differences which I pointed 

 out to him are constant in the series. Mr. Layard gives the follow- 

 ing notes as to the soft parts on the label of his specimen : — " Beak 

 black, legs brown-black, iris brown." 



Mr. Layard also met with a Myzomela, which he referred to M. 

 sanguinolenta (Ibis, 1878, p. 280), in the New Hebrides, on the 

 islands of Vate, A|)i, and MallikoUo, and remarks that a specimen 

 procured is identical with the New-Caledonian bird ; so that it seems 

 probable that M. caledonica may extend its range as far as these 

 islands ; but specimens to show this are as yet wanting. 



3. Myzomela chloroptera. (Plate XXIV. fig. 1.) 



Myzomela chloroptera, Wald. Ann. N. H. 4th ser. ix. p. 399 

 (1872) ; Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. vii. p. 6G2 (1875). 



cJ ad. capite, dorso vropygioque, cum pectore, coccineis ; corpore 

 subtus griseo-Jiavido ; alis cauduque fuscis, remigibus et tectrici- 

 bus alarum olivaceo limbatis, subalaribus et margine interna re- 

 migum albis, ala flexura jlavo-ulbida ; macula anteoculari nigra ; 

 rostro nigricante, pedibus obscure coi-neis. Long. al. 2"2, caud. 

 1-5, rostr. "55, tars. "50 (poll, jdngl.). 



Hab. in insula Celebes. 



This Myzomela, the westernmost of the whole genus, was described 

 by the late Lord Tweeddale from imperfect specimens collected by 



