WHITE-NAPED HONEY-EATER. 
Melithreptus lunatus subalbogularis Mathews, Nov. Zool., Yol. XVIII., p. 392, Jan. 31st, 
1912 : Derby, North-west Australia ; id ., List Birds Austr., p. 259, 1913, 
Melithreptus lunatus gradus Mathews, Austral Avian Record, Vol. I., pt. 2, p. 48, April 
2nd, 1912 : Melville Island, Northern Territory. 
Melithreptus lunatus yorki Mathews, ib ., pt. 4, p. 98, Sept. 18th, 1912 : Cape York, North 
Queensland. 
Distribution. Throughout Australia, but more or less coastal in distribution and not 
penetrating into the interior. Not Tasmania. 
Adult female. Entire top of head, lores, sides of face, sides of neck, a narrow band across 
the hind-neck, and chin glossy-black with hair-like tips to the feathers on the last; 
a narrow band of white across the nape ; back, rump, upper tail-coverts, scapulars, 
median, and greater upper wing-coverts, and outer aspect of flight-quills yellowish- 
green, some of the outer primaries whitish along the outer webs ; lesser upper 
wing-coverts dark brown like the bastard-wing; primary-coverts similar but 
narrowly edged with yellowish-green; inner-webs of flight-quills dark brown 
margined with white on the basal portion ; tail, the two middle feathers similar to 
the back but somewhat darker and having the shafts black, the lateral ones 
blackish fringed on the outer-webs with yellowish-green; throat white; sides 
of breast black; middle of breast, abdomen, sides of body, thighs, and under tail- 
coverts pale grey; axillaries and under wing-coverts white like the inner-margins 
of the flight-quills below, remainder of quill-lining hair-brown ; lower aspect of tail 
similar but paler. Eyes brown, orbits above chalky-white, below slate-grey, feet 
brown, bill black. Total length 156 mm. ; culmen 12, wing 81, tail 63, tarsus 20. 
Figured. Collected on Wilson’s Inlet, South-west Australia, and is Melithreptus 
whitlocki. 
Adult male. Similar to the adult female. 
Adult male . Entire top of head, nape, hind-neck, sides of face, sides of neck, and sides 
of breast black; a semi-circular narrow band of white on the sides of the 
crown and across the nape ; back, rump, upper tail-coverts, scapulars, median and 
greater upper w r ing-coverts, and outer margins of flight-quills yellowish-green ; lesser 
upper wing-coverts, bastard-wing, and two outer primaries blackish-brown like the 
inner-webs of the primary-coverts ; inner-webs of flight-quills hair-brown margined 
with white on the basal portion; tail hair-brown tinged with yellowish-green; 
chin, throat, breast, abdomen, sides of body, and under tail-coverts white like the 
axillaries and under wing-coverts; thighs dusky; under-surface of flight-quills 
dark brown edged with white ; lower aspect of tail hair-brown. Eyes reddish- 
brown, orbits bluish-grey, feet and tarsi pale leaden-brown, bill black. Total 
length 128 mm. ; culmen 12, wing 71, tail 49, tarsus 19. Figured. Collected on 
Apsley Straits, Melville Island, Northern Territory, on the 24th of November, 
1911, and is the type of Melithreptus lunatus gradus and is a subspecies of 
Melithreptus albogularis Gould. 
Adult female similar to the adult male. 
Immature. Crown of head, fore-head, lores, sides of face, and hind-neck black, divided 
by a line of white on the sides of the hinder-crown and across the hind-neck, the 
black on the crown and nape intermixed with earth-brown; mantle, back, upper 
tail-coverts, scapulars, and outer aspect of the wings greenish-yellow; lesser upper 
wing-coverts blackish with pale tips to the median series ; outer edge of wing more 
or less white; bastard-wing and primary-coverts inclining to smoke-brown with 
pale tips to the feathers; inner-webs of flight-quills dark hair-brown margined 
243 
