Ordkr PASSERES.l 



[Fam. SYLVIID^ 



MYIOMOIEA MACEOCEPHALA. 



(YELLOW-BREASTED TIT.) 



Great-headed Titmouse^ Lath. Gen. Syn. ii. pt. 2, p. 557, pi. Iv. (1783). 



Parus macrocepliahts^ Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 1013 (1788, ex Lath.). 



Pachycephalusli macrocephaliis^ Steph. Gen. Zool. xiii. p. 267 (1826). 



BJiipidura macrocephala, Gray, in DiefF. Trav. ii., App. p. 190 (1843). 



Miro forsterorum^ Gray, op, cit. ii. p. 191 (1843). 



MiTO dieffenbachii^ Gray, op, cit, ii. p. 191 (1843). 



Petroica macrocephala, Gray, Voy. Ereb. and Terror, Birds, p. 6 (1844). 



Petroica dieffenhacMi^ id. op. cit, p. 6, pi. 6. fig. 1 (1844). 



Turdus minutus, Forst. Descr. Anim. p. 83 (1844). 



Miro macrocephala. Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 299 (1850). 



Mnscicapa macrocephala^ Ellman, Zool. 1861, p. 7465. 



Muscicapa mimtta^ Ellman, torn, cit, p. 7405. 



Myiomoira dieffenbachii. Gray, Hand-1. of B. i. p. 229 (1869), 



Myiomoira macrocephala^ id. op, cit, p. 229 (1869). 



Native names. 



The same as those applied to the preceding species. 



^ simihs M. toitoij sed macule frontah alba minore et pectore flavido distinguendus. 



A, 



$ similis feniina3 M. toitoiy sed pectore flavido lavato. 



Adult male. Similar to M, toitoi^ except in the colour of the under surface^ -which is pale lemon-yellow 

 instead of being whitCj deepening to orange "where it meets the black of the fore neck, and fading away 

 into yellowish white on the vent and under tail-covcrts; the white fi'ontal spot^ moreover, is somewhat 

 less distinct than in the former bird. 



Female, Similar to the female of M. toitoiy but having the breast and abdomen washed with pale lemon- 

 yellow, and the wing-bar tinged with fulvous. 



Young. In the young of both sexes the yellow is reduced to a scarcely perceptible tinge, and in some 

 examples is altogether wantmg. In the young male the breast is obscurely mottled with brown, and in 

 the young female these markings extend to the flanks also. 



Obs. Individuals vary much both in size and in the tone of tlieir colouring. A specimen in the Canterbury 

 Museum measures only 4*75 inches in length, corresponding, both in size and plumage, with the type 

 of Mr. G. R. Gray^s M, dieffenbachii ; and I have received equally small examples from the Chatham 

 Islands ; but^ after a very careful comparison, I am unable to admit the validity of the supposed new 

 species. 



The Yellow-breasted Tit is the South-Island representative of the preceding species, which is 



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