Order PASSERIFORMES. 
No. 646. 
Family MELITHREPTIDM. 
MELOMYZA OBSCURA. 
DUSKY HONEY-EATER. 
(Plate 517.) 
Myzomela obscura Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Loud.), 1842, p. 136, Feb. 1843: Port 
Essington, Northern Territory. 
Myzomela obscura Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1842, p. 136, 1843; id ., Birds Austr., 
pt. xvi. (Vol. IV., pi. 67), Dec. 1st, 1845 ; id ., Handb. Birds Austr., Vol. I., p. 559, 
1865 ; Ramsay, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1875, p. 597 ; id ., Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 
Vol. II., p. 190, 1878; Forbes, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lend.), 1879, p. 263; Gadow, 
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. IX., p. 143, 1884; Ramsay, Tab. List Austr. Birds, 
p. 14, 1888 ; Hall, Key Birds Austr., p. 37, 1899 ; Campbell. Nests and Eggs Austr. 
Birds, Vol. L, p. 356, 1901 ; North, Austr. Mus. Spec. Cat., No. 1, Vol. II., p. 96. 
1907 ; Mathews, Handl. Birds Austral., p. 93, 1908 ; Broadbent, Emu, Vol. X., 
p. 239, 1910 (N.Q.) ; Macgillivray, ib., Vol. XIII., p. 177, 1914 (N.Q.); Barnard, 
i&., Vol. XIV., p. 48, 1914 (N.T.); H. L. White, ib., Vol. XVI., p. 227, 3917 
(N.T.); Campbell and Barnard, ib ., Vol. XVII., p. 32, 1917 (N.Q.); Macgillivray, 
ib., p. 204,1918 (N.Q.); Campbell, ib ., Vol. XVIII., p. 185, 1919 (N.T.); S. A. White. 
ib., Vol. XIX., p. 225, 1920 (Q.) ; Campbell. ib. } Vol. XX., p. 63, 1920. 
Myzomela obscura grisescens Hartert, Nov. Zool., Vol. XII., p. 235, Feb. 11th, 1905: 
Brock’s Creek, Northern Territory. 
Myzomela obscura harterti Mathews, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club, Vol. XXVII., p. 100, May 
26th, 1911: Cairns, Queensland; id ., Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 397, 1912. 
Myzomela obscura obscura Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 397, Jan. 31st, 1912. 
Myzomela obscura munna Mathews, ib. : Cape York, Queensland. 
Myzomela obscura apsleyi Mathews, Austral Avian Record, Vol. I., pt. 2, p. 48, April 2nd, 
1912 : Melville Island, Northern Territory. 
Melomyza obscura obscura Mathews, Lise Birds Austr., p. 264, 1913. 
Melomyza obscura apsleyi Mathews, ib., p. 265; id., Ibis, 1914, p. 127. 
Melomyza obscura harterti Mathews, ib. ; id., South Austr. Om., Vol. 2, p. 59, 1915. 
Distribution. Northern Territory and Northern Queensland (New Guinea). 
Adult male. General colour of the upper-surface dark smoke-brown with a glossy 
appearance on the wings and tail; under-surface dark coffee-brown; under¬ 
surface of flight-quillr glossy dark brown, rather paler on the margins ; lower aspect 
330 
