Myzomela cardinalis rubratra (Lesson)
Cardinal Honey-eater
Cinnyris rubrater Lesson, Dict. Sci. Nat., éd. Levrault, 50, 1827, p. 30. (Type locality, Oualan = Kusaie.)
Cinnyris rubrater Lesson (part), Voy. "La Coquille," Zool., 2, 1828, pp. 433, 678 (Oualan); idem (part), Man. d'Ornith., 2, 1828, p. 55 (Oualan); idem (part), Traité d'Ornith., 1831, p. 299 (Oualan); Kittlitz (part), Kupfertaf. Naturgesch. Vögel, 1832, p. 6, pl. 8, fig. 1 (Ualan); idem (part), Denkw. Reise russ. Amer. Micron. und Kamchat., 1, 1858, pp. 364, 381; 2, 1858, pp. 39, 49 (Ualan).
Certhia Cardinalis Kittlitz, Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, 2, 1835, p. 4 (Ualan).
Cinnyris cardinalis Kittlitz, Obser. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le Séniavine," 3, 1836, p. 285 (Ualan).
Myzomela sanguinolenta Bonaparte, Consp. Avium, 1, 1850, p. 394 (no loc. = Kusaie?).
Myzomela rubrater Hartlaub (part), Archiv. f. Naturgesch., 18, 1852, pp. 109, 131 (Ualan); Finsch and Hartlaub, Fauna Centralpolynesiens, 1867, p. 57 (Ualan).
Myzomela rubratra Hartlaub (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 168 (Carolinen = Kusaie); idem (part), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1867 (1868), p. 829 (Carolines = Kusaie); Hartlaub and Finsch (part), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 95 (Ualan); Giebel (part), Thes. Ornith., 2, 1875, p. 681 (Carolinae = Kusaie); Finsch (part), Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, p. 26 (Ualan); Forbes (part), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1879, p. 271 (Ualan); Finsch (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, pp. 285, 298 (Kuschai); idem (part), Ibis, 1881, pp. 103, 108, 111 (Kuschai); idem (part), Mitth. Ornith. Ver. Wien, 1884, p. 48 (Ualan); Hartert, Kat. Vogelsamml. Senckenb., 1891, p. 31 (Ualan); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 31 (Ualan); Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, pp. 201, 202 (Kushai); Hartert (part), Novit, Zool., 5, 1898, p. 56 (Ualan); Dubois (part), Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 716 (Carolines = Kusaie).
Certhia sanguinolenta Kittlitz, Denkw. Reise russ. Amer. Micron, und Kamchat., 1, 1858, p. 364 (Ualan).
Myzomela major Gray, Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 11 (Oualan?).
Myzomela rubrata Matschie (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Ualan).
Myzomela rubratra rubratra Wetmore, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 30, 1917, p. 117 (Kusaie); Wetmore (part), in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 219 (Kusaie); Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, pp. 15, 20, 21, 22, (Kusaie); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 72 (Kusaie); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 743 (Oualan); Hand-list Japanese Birds (part), rev., 1932, p. 172 (Kusaie); Hand-list Japanese Birds (part), 3d ed., 1942, p. 191 (Kusaie).
Myzomela cardinalis rubratra Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 299 (Kusaie).
Geographic range.—Micronesia: Caroline Islands—Kusaie.
Characters.—Adult male: Head (except lores), neck back, rump, upper tail-coverts, chin, throat, breast, and upper abdomen black with feathers tipped with coloring between "scarlet" and "scarlet-red"; rest of feathering black; bill long and curved and black; feet black; iris dark brown.
Table 48. Measurements of Myzomela cardinalis of Micronesia
Table 48. Measurements of Myzomela cardinalis of Micronesia
| Subspecies | Number and sex | Wing | Tail | Full Culmen | Tarsus |
| M. c. rubratra | 21 adult males | 79 | 55 | 19.5 | 22 |
| (76-81) | (53-56) | (18.5-20.5) | (21-22) | ||
20 adult females | 71 | 49 | 18.5 | 20 | |
| (69-74) | (45-51) | (17.5-19.5) | (19-21) | ||
| M. c. dichromata | 24 adult males | 78 | 53 | 21.5 | 22 |
| (76-80) | (51-56) | (20.0-23.0) | (21-23) | ||
22 adult females | 69 | 47 | 19.0 | 20 | |
| (66-72) | (45-49) | (17.5-20.5) | (19-21) | ||
| M. c. major | 9 adult males | 77 | 55 | 20.0 | 22 |
| (75-78) | (54-59) | (19.5-20.5) | (21-22) | ||
2 adult females | 70 | 50 | 19.0, 20.5 | 21.5 | |
| M. c. saffordi | 47 adult males | 73 | 55 | 20.0 | 22 |
| (69-77) | (51-56) | (19.0-20.5) | (21-24) | ||
14 adult females | 65 | 49 | 18.5 | 21 | |
| (63-71) | (46-51) | (17.5-19.5) | (19-21) | ||
| M. c. kurodai | 2 adult males | 74, 75 | 52 | 20.0, 20.5 | 20, 21 |
| M. c. kobayashii | 17 adult males | 74 | 54 | 20.5 | 21 |
| (71-76) | (51-57) | (19.0-22.0) | (20-22) | ||
8 adult females | 67 | 48 | 18.0 | 20 | |
| (65-68) | (45-50) | (17.5-19.0) | (19-21) |
Adult female: Resembles adult male, but smaller; red coloring duller; wings and tail more brownish and less blackish; abdomen and under tailcoverts dark gray.
Immature: Resembles adult, but duller and less blackish and more grayish with less red coloring on feathers and an olivaceous-brown tinge to plumage.
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.