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It has large lustrous eyes, and the feathered fringe to the eyelid imparts to them an unusually 
prominent appearance. W hen its attention is excited, it assumes a very erect position, and flips its 
wings and tail, often uttering a short chirp between each operation. It is popularly said to have the 
power of expanding and contracting the small white spot on its forehead, but the explanation is a 
simple one . when the bird is at rest, it habitually raises the frontal feathers, making the head 
look large and rounded and rendering the white spot almost invisible ; when excited or alarmed 
the feathers are immediately depressed and the frontal spot is at once conspicuous. 
Under the head of Eudynamis taitensis, mention will be made of its services as foster-parent to 
the young of that Cuckoo, of which we have at least one undoubted instance. 
On comparing the eggs of this species with those of M. australis, there is a manifest difference. 
They are slightly larger and more ovoido-conical in form, measuring 1-05 inch in length by -7 in 
breadth. They present also more individual variation than do those of the North-Island bird, which 
are all marked on the same pattern. In two eggs of M. albifrons in my son’s collection one has the 
entire surface minutely and indistinctly freckled with grey, whilst the other has the larger end 
splashed all over with confluent spots of purplish brown, with a few widely scattered specks over the 
rest of the surface. Another (taken from the nest in February) is somewhat pyriform in shape, 
measuring -9 of an inch in length by -7 in breadth ; the obtuse end thickly smudged with dull brick- 
red, washed over with brown, and a few sprinkles of the same colour on other portions of the shell. 
Some doubts having existed as to the true position of the genera Miro and Myiomoira, I 
furnished Dr. Gadow with specimens in spirit of Miro albifrons and Myiomoira toitoi to enable him 
to study their internal characters, and he reports, as the result of his investigations, that both forms 
are true Singing-birds, and that the place I had already assigned them, in my former edition, among 
the Sylviidse is undoubtedly the right one *. This fact is of some importance from a systematic 
point of view, because of the relation of this group to others about whose location in the system 
there is much difference of opinion. 
In the British Museum Catalogue (Birds, vol. iv.) Mr. Sharpe places both these forms among 
the Muscicapidse, associating M. toitoi and M. macrocephala with twelve other species in the genus 
Petroeca, with a range extending over Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. 
Professor Newton, in his able article on “ Ornithology ” (Encycl. Brit.), has the following 
remarks “ There is no doubt whatever as to the intimate relationship of the Thrushes (Turdidte) 
to the Chats (Saxicolinae), for that is admitted by nearly every systematizer. Now most authorities 
on classification are agieed in associating with the latter group the Birds of the Australian genus 
Petroeca and its allies the so-called ‘ Iiobins ’ of the English-speaking part of the great southern 
communities. But it so happens that, from the inferior type of the osteological characters of this 
very group of birds, Prof. Parker has called them (Trans. Zool. Society, v. p. 152), ‘ Struthious 
Warblers f. Now, if the Petroeca group be, as most allow, allied to the Saxicolinte, they must also 
be allied, only rather more remotely, to the Turdidac— for Thrushes and Chats are inseparable, and 
therefore this connexion must drag down the Thrushes in the scale. Let it be granted that the more 
highly developed Thrushes have got rid of the low Struthious features which characterize their 
Australian relatives, the unbroken series of connecting forms chains them to the inferior position, 
and of itself disqualifies them from the rank so fallaciously assigned to them.” 
* “ Miro albifrons (Passeres, Acromyodi, Turdiformes). — Stands very well with the Sylviidoe, where you have already put 
it. Tail-feathers twelve. Primary remiges ten, the terminal one being long, more than half the length of the nest. Secondary 
remiges nine. Pterylosis typically Sylviine and Turdine. Metatarsus completely encased by three long scutes or shields, ono 
anterior and two lateral, the latter forming a sharp posterior prominent keel ; truly Sylviine. Intestines agree with Sylviine birds 
likewise. Stomach contained insects. Nothing peculiar about Miro at all. The same applies to Myiomoira — H. Gadow. 
■f “ Petroeca has been stated by Professor Parker to be a ‘ Tracheophone ’ (i. e. Mesomyodian), having ‘ the muscles of lower 
larynx quite indistinct.’ In three specimens, however, of that genus examined by me I find a perfectly Oscinine syrinx with its 
muscles as well developed as in other birds of the same size ” (Forbes, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 545). 
