MELIARCHUS SCLATERLI.

Sclater’s Honey-eater.

Philemon vultwrinus (nec Reichenb.), Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1869, pp. 120, 124
Philemon sclatert, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1870, v. p. 327.—Id. Cruise of the Curacoa, Birds, p- 362,
pl. v. (1878).—Tristr. Ibis, 1879, p. 439.—Gadow, Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. ix. p. 279 (1884).
Meliarchus sclateri, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov. xvi. p. 75 (1880).—Id. Orn. Pa

puasia e delle Molucche, ii.
p. 322 (1881).

 

Tuts 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 oe
iris brown” (G. E. Richards). Total length 9°5 inches, culmen 1-9, wing 4°5, tail 4°25, tarsus 1:35.

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. a oe

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