MELI ARCHUS SCLATERI. 
Sclater’s Honey-eater. 
Philemon vulturinus (nec Reiclienb.), Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1869, pp. 120, 124. 
Philemon sclateri, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1870, v. p. 327. — Id. Cruise of the Curacoa, Birds, p. 362, 
pi. t. (1873). — Tristr. Ibis, 1879, p. 439. — Gadow, Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. ix. p. 279 (1884). 
Meliarchus sclateri, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, xvi. p. 76 (1880). — Id. Orn. Papuasia e delle Molucche, ii. 
p. 322 (1881). 
This fine species of Honey-eater appears to be confined to the Solomon Islands, and is probably found 
only on the island of San Christoval. Here it was procured by the late Mr. Brenchley, and Lieut. Richards 
also met with it at Makira Harbour, in the same island. Very few specimens exist in European collections, 
and nothing' has been recorded of its habits. 
We follow Count Salvadori in referring the present species to a distinct genus, as it appears to us 
to be by no means a true Philemon, excepting under the very elastic definition which Dr. Gadow gives 
to the latter genus. 
The following description is taken from a specimen lent to us by Mr. E. P. Ramsay : — 
Adult male. General colour above dull olive on the back and mantle, dull reddish brown on the 
body, rump, and upper tail-coverts ; wing-coverts dark brown, edged with olive ; bastard-wing blackish 
brown ; primary-coverts and quills dusky brown, edged with lighter olive-yellow, except on the inner 
secondaries ; tail-feathers reddish brown with olive margins ; crown of head pale yellow, streaked with 
black, the hind neck with dusky ; feathers round the eye and eyebrow and the upper part of the ear-coverts 
yellowish white, with a black spot on the lores ; cheeks and lower part of ear-coverts black, streaked with pale 
yellow edges to the feathers; throat pale ashy grey ; breast pale olive-yellow, with dusky centres to the 
feathers ; lower breast and abdomen dull ashy ; sides of body and flanks reddish brown washed with olive ; 
thighs and under tail-coverts reddish brown, edged with olive-yellow ; axillaries and under wing-coverts dark 
ashy, washed with olive ; quills dusky below, ashy along the inner web : “ bill yellowish ; feet ash-colour ; 
iris brown” ( \G . E. Richards). Total length 9'5 inches, culmen 1*5, wing 4 - 5, tail 4' 25, tarsus T35. 
The Plate represents an adult bird of the natural size, and is drawn from the above-mentioned specimen 
lent by Mr. Ramsay. It was procured at Makira Harbour by Lieut. Richards. 
[R. B. S.] 
