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.)
Myzomela major Gray, Hand-list Birds, 1, 1869, p. 153 (Caroline = Truk); Giebel, Thes. Ornith., 1875, p. 681 (Carolinae = Truk?); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 64 (Ruk); Kuroda, Dobutsu, Zasshi, 27, 1915, p. 28 (Ruk); idem, Dobutsu Zasshi, 28, 1916, p. 71 (Ruk).
Myzomela rubratra Finsch (part), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880, p. 575 (Ruk); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 253 (Ruk); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 31 (Ruk); Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 202 (Ruk); Hartert (part), Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 56 (Ruk); idem (part), Novit. Zool., 7, 1900, p. 2 (Ruk); Dubois (part), Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 714 (Carolines = Truk?).
Myzomela rubrata Matschie (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Ruck); Takatsukasa and Kuroda (part), Tori, 1, 1915, p. 55 (Ruk).
Myzomela rubratra rubrata Wetmore (part), in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 221 (Uala).
Myzomela rubrata wetmorei Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 15 (Type locality, Ruk); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 73 (Ruk); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 743 (Ruk); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 172 (Truk); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 190 (Truk).
Myzomela cardinalis major Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 299 (Truk); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 72 (Truk).
Geographic range.—Micronesia: Caroline Islands—Truk.
Characters.—Adult male: Resembles adult male of M. c. rubrata, but tips of plumage lighter "scarlet."
Adult female: Resembles adult female of M. c. rubrata, but underparts more heavily tipped with scarlet; abdomen and under tail-coverts black; tail slightly darker. Differs from M. c. dichromata by presence of scarlet tips on feathers of head.
Immature male: Resembles adult female, but scarlet coloring of tips of feathers of head and neck narrower.
Immature female: Resembles immature female of M. c. rubrata, but upper parts grayer; underparts darker.
Measurements.—Measurements are listed in [table 48].
Specimens examined.—Total number, 19 (13 males, 6 females), as follows: Caroline Islands, USNM—Truk, 2 (Feb. 16, Dec. 13); AMNH—Truk, 17 (Feb., March, Nov., Dec.).
Nesting.—Concerning the honey-eater at Truk, Hartert (1900:2) writes "many nests were found from end of May to July, and one in March." McElroy examined three males in December, which had swollen testes. As seems to be the case with other races of this species, the Cardinal Honey-eater at Truk may nest at all times of the year.
Molt.—Specimens examined that were taken in November, December and February are in fresh or in molting plumages.
Remarks.—Bonaparte described his Myzomela major as "Similis praecedenti, sed major et percoccinea." He compares it here with Myzomela rubrata, which he considered as a resident of the Mariana Islands. According to Oustalet (1895:202) Hombron and Jacquinot obtained one specimen of the honey-eater at Truk in 1841. This subspecies, as well as most of the others of M. cardinalis in Micronesia, is best distinguished by the characteristics of the female. The male of the different subspecies shows much less geographic variation.