The Orioles are represented by one species only, Mimeta striata, belonging to the dull coloured brown-backed group with heavily streaked under-parts and the sexes alike in plumage. It was commonest in the mangrove swamps near the coast.
FAMILY PLOCEIDÆ—WEAVER-BIRDS.
This widely distributed group of Weaver-Finches is not very numerous in New Guinea and the only representative met with was a small species, Munia tristissima, which was common in the clearing round the camp at Wakatimi.
FAMILY MOTACILLIDÆ—WAGTAILS.
The Grey Wagtail (Motacilla melanope) and the Blue-headed Wagtail (M. flava) were both met with on the Mimika and other rivers. It is interesting to note that both species are included in the British List, the former being a regular breeding-species in our islands. The birds wintering in far-off New Guinea, no doubt formed part of the eastern colonies of these species which nest in Siberia and visit the Indo-Malayan Islands in winter.
FAMILY MELIPHAGIDÆ—HONEY-EATERS.
The Honey-eaters are very numerously represented in South-western New Guinea and no fewer than twenty-seven species were met with by our Expedition.
The family is divided in two sections, the first including the comparatively brightly coloured genus Myzomela the members of which resemble true Sun-birds (Nectariniidæ) in general appearance. Seven species were met with; the most brilliantly coloured being M. cruentata which has the plumage of the body scarlet and the wings washed with the same colour, another species M. obscura has the entire plumage smoky-grey, and four forms are intermediate between these two types of colouration, being partly scarlet and partly grey. The seventh is a very small and very rare species (Œdistoma pygmæum), which was described by Count Salvadori from the Arfak Peninsula.