Part 113

Measurements.--Measurements are listed in table 48.

Specimens examined.--Total number, 62 (35 males, 27 females), as follows: Caroline Islands, USNM--Kusaie, 3 (Feb. 9); AMNH--Kusaie, 59 (Jan., Feb., March).

Nesting.--Finsch records the taking of eggs of the honey-eater at Kusaie on February 26 and March 10, 1880.

Molt.--Evidence of molt was observed in a few specimens taken in January and in larger number of birds taken in March. In addition, some skins obtained in March showed fresh plumage. Although there is little evidence available, I suppose that nesting activities of M. r. rubratra at Kusaie occur in the winter months of December, January, February, and March, and that molt begins in January, especially in the males, and possibly reaches a peak in March.

Remarks.--M. r. rubratra was first described by Lesson, who referred to it under the name Cinnyris rubrater. The bird was found by Lesson at Kusaie, when he visited the island in June, 1924, as a member of the expedition from the ship "La Coquille." In his description he also stated that the bird was found in the Philippines by Dussumier. The report of the bird's occurrence in the Philippines proved to be erroneous, as was pointed out by Wetmore (in Townsend and Wetmore, 1919:220). Oustalet (1895:200) contended that Lesson's description was based on the specimens taken by Quoy and Gaimard in the Marianas; he stated that none of the birds which Lesson mentions from Kusaie was preserved. Bonaparte also considered Cinnyris rubrater to be from the Marianas, and he gave the name Myzomela major to the honey-eater of the Caroline Islands (apparently including Kusaie) on the basis of specimens taken by Hombron and Jacquinot at Truk. Wetmore (in Townsend and Wetmore, 1919:220) settles the argument and assigns Lesson's name rubratra to the honey-eater at Kusaie; apparently this treatment is the correct one inasmuch as Lesson used his own field notes and records of the occurrence of this honey-eater at Kusaie in preparing his description, even if the actual specimens were not preserved. This arrangement makes Bonaparte's name major available for the population at Truk and makes Wetmore's name saffordi available for the population in the Marianas. The placing of the honey-eaters of Micronesia within the species Myzomela cardinalis by Mayr (1932:19) is, I think, justified.

Little information is available concerning the habits of the honeyeater at Kusaie. In 1931, Coultas (field notes) regarded the bird as common in the lowlands, especially in the coconut groves. He did not find the bird at high elevations on the island.

=Myzomela cardinalis dichromata= Wetmore

Cardinal Honey-eater

Myzomela rubratra dichromata Wetmore, in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 220. (Type locality, Ponapé.)

Myzomela rubratra Pelzeln, Reise "Novara," Vögel, 1865, pp. 55, 162 (Puynipet = Ponapé); Finsch (part), Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, pp. 17, 26 (Ponapé); idem, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877 (1878), p. 778 (Ponapé); Forbes (part), Proc. Zool., Soc. London, 1879, p. 271 (Ponapé); Finsch (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, p. 285 (Ponapé); idem (part), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880, p. 575 (Ponapé); idem (part), Ibis, 1881, pp. 111, 115 (Ponapé); idem (part), Mitth. Ornith. Ver. Wien, 1884, p. 48 (Ponapé); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 31 (Ponapé); Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 202 (Ponapi).

Myzomela rubrata Nehrkorn (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1879, p. 397 (Ponapé); Christian, The Caroline Islands, 1899, p. 358 (Ponapé); Matschie (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Ponapé); Takatsukasa and Kuroda (part), Tori, 1, 1915, p. 55 Ponapé); Mayr, Proc. 6th Pacific Sci. Congr., 4, 1941, p. 204 (Ponapé).

Myzomela chermesina Gadow, Cat. Birds British Mus., 9, 1884, p. 137 (Ponapé); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 64 (Ponapé).

Myzomela rubratra dichromata Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, pp. 15, 20, 21, 22 (Ponapé); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 73 (Ponapé); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 743 (Ponapé).

Myzomela rubratra rubratra Yamashina, Tori, 7, 1932, p. 395 (Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds (part), rev., 1932, p. 172 (Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds (part), 3d ed., 1942, p. 191 (Ponapé).

Myzomela cardinalis dichromata Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 299 Ponapé).

Geographic range.--Micronesia: Caroline Islands--Ponapé.

Characters.--Adult male: Resembles adult males of M. c. rubratra, but with more extensive black markings on lores and below eye; tips of feathers lighter "scarlet."

Adult female: Resembles adult female of M. c. rubratra, but duller and with red coloring much reduced; head, neck, shoulder, ear-coverts, and sides of neck sooty brownish-gray; rest of upper parts dark brownish-gray with plumage of middle of back, rump, and upper tail-coverts tipped with scarlet; wings and tail dark brown with outer edges olivaceous-gray; chin and throat reddish; breast light brownish-gray, may be washed with reddish; axillaries, abdomen, and under tail-coverts grayish.

Immature male: Resembles adult male, but scarlet coloring less brilliant and thinner on forehead, middle of back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and underparts and absent, or nearly absent, on crown and neck.

Immature female: Resembles adult female, but scarlet coloring thinner and present only on underparts, back, rump, and upper tail-coverts; abdomen and under tail-coverts washed with buff.

Measurements.--Measurements are listed in table 48.

Specimens examined.--Total number, 52 (26 males, 24 females, 2 unsexed), as follows: Caroline Islands, USNM--Ponapé, 3 (Feb. 11, 12); AMNH--Ponapé, 49 (Nov., Dec.).

Nesting.--Yamashina (1932a:395) records a large collection of eggs of the honey-eater, taken at Ponapé in 1931. Of 13 sets of eggs listed, 10 include two eggs per set and 3 include one egg per set. These were obtained from July 20 to September 2. Coultas (field notes) found one nest with young in a tree-fern in the period of November and December, 1930. The nest was cup-shaped and made of fern and fine grasses and lined with lichens. Coultas writes that only the female feeds the young. He suspects that the honey-eater nests at all times of the year.

Molt.--Most of the birds taken by Coultas in November and December are in molting plumage.

Remarks.--The Cardinal Honey-eater at Ponapé is, according to Coultas, found in most habitats of the island. He found it to be an aggressive bird, often chasing the white-eye Zosterops cinerea. The committee (Hachisuka et al.) which prepared the Hand-list of Japanese Birds in both the revised edition (1932) and the third edition (1942) does not recognize the Ponapé honey-eater as separable from the bird at Kusaie. I see no reason for this action and find the bird at Ponapé to be a well-marked subspecies.

=Myzomela cardinalis major= Bonaparte

Cardinal Honey-eater

Myzomela major Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, 38, 1854, p. 264. (Type locality, "ex Ins. Carolinis ab Homb. et Jacq." = Truk.)