CRESCENT HONEY-EATER. 
Meliomis pyrrhoplera pyrrhoplera Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 414, Jan. 3l8t, 
1912. 
Meliomis pyrrhoplera indistincta Mathews, ib.: (Mount Lofty) South Australia; id.. Austral 
Av. Rec., Vol. I., p. 62, 1912. 
Meliomis pyrrhoplera halmalurina Mathews, ih. 
Meliomis pyrrhoplera inomala Mathews, ib. 
Phylidonyris pyrrhoplera pyrrhoplera Mathews, List Birds Austr., p. 283, 1913. 
Phylidonyris pyrrhoplera indislincla Mathews, ib. ; Belcher, Birds Gleelong, p. 345, 1914. 
Phylidonyris pyrrhoplera halmalurina Mathews, List Birds Austr., p. 283, 1913. 
Phylidonyris pyrrhoplera inomala Mathews, ib. 
Phylidonyris pyrrhoplera mixta Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. V., pts. 2-3, p. 38, 
Feb. 21st, 1923: Victoria. 
Distribution. South Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Kangaroo 
Island and Tasmania. 
Adult male. Lores and top of the head black; a line of white feathers over the eye and 
continued to the hinder margin of the ear; back of the neck, mantle, back, rump 
and wing-coverts dark smoke-grey slightly washed with dull olive on the rump; 
upper tail-coverts black ; middle tail-feathers black, margined basally on the outer 
webs with golden-yellow ; remainder of the tail black, with a large spot of wliite 
on the imier web at the tip and margined at the base of the outer web with golden- 
yellow ; two outermost primaries uniform black ; innermost primaries and outermost 
secondaries black with the outer web margined with golden-yellow ; chin and 
throat white, widely streaked with black; fore-neck white, very widely bordered 
with black, interrupted in front ; a band of white feathers across the chest and 
down the middle of the belly ; sides and flanks pmoke-brown; under wing-coverts 
and axillaries white, tinged with smoke-grey. Eyes crimson, feet slate, bill black. 
Total length 162 mm. ; culmen 17, wing 76, tail 69, tarsus 17. Figured. Collected 
on King Island, Bass Straits, on the 30th of April, 1914, and is the type of Phylidonyris 
pyrrhoplera rex, subsp. nov. It is much darker on the back. 
Adult male. Lores black ; fore-head and top of the head smoke-grey, sUnaked with 
black; back of the neck lighter grey, streaked with blackish ; a narrow white eye¬ 
brow ; sides of the face, mantk, back, and rump dark smoke-grey, slightly washed 
with dull olive on the latter ; upper taU-coverts black; wing-coverts dull black; 
two outermost primaries entirely black; innermost primaries and outermost 
secondaries dull black, margined on the outer web with golden-yellow and narrowly 
margined on the inner webs with wliite ; innermost secondaries uniform dull black ; 
middle tail-feathers black, widely margined on the outer webs with golden-yellow; 
outermost paire of tail-feathers black with a large spot of white on tlie inner web 
at the tip and margined on the basal half of the outer web with golden-yellow; 
throat white, streaked with blackish-brown and with black liair-like prolonged 
shafts to the feathers ; fore-neck white, widely bordered with black, interrupted in 
front; remainder of the under-siuface whitish, very strongly washed with dull 
smoke-grev ; axillaries and under wing-coverts wliite tinged with smoke-grey. 
Total len^h 167 mm.; culmen 16, wing 79, tail 68, tarsus 20. Figured. Collected 
at OUnda, Victoria. (Middle figure.) 
The sexes are somewhat alike, but the female lacks the black markhig on the side of the 
chest and the white tips to the tail-feathers. The back is brown, not black, and 
the yellow edges of the wing-feathers not so pronounced. 
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