_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