Remarks.—Oustalet (1895:202) writes that Marche obtained 25 specimens of the Golden Honey-eater at Saipan in May, June, and July, 1887. Little is known regarding its habits; Moran (1946:262) writes that the bird "reminds one of the prothonotary warbler, with a long, curved, black bill." Stott (1947:527) writes that "it appears to be restricted to a single habitat, that of dense forest." He found the bird in forest on the north shore of Magicienne Bay. Coultas obtained only one specimen on his visit to Saipan in 1931. Marshall (1949:216) records some interesting observations of this bird made in 1945. He notes (op. cit. p. 219) that the bird breeds in January, February and April.
Not only is it remarkable that the Golden Honey-eater has become established on a single island in a rather closely associated chain of islands, but it is also difficult to determine from where the bird came. It seemingly has no close relatives in the Micronesian area. Oustalet (1895:202) points out that one has to go to New Guinea, Moluccas, Australia, Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga in order to find related forms. In looking through the large collections of Meliphagidae in the American Museum of Natural History, I found only a few genera to which the Saipan Golden Honey-eater seems to be closely related. Timeliopsis of New Guinea has some resemblances to Cleptornis, although the coloration is different. Timeliopsis has a similar bill, but has a longer tail and longer wing; the shortness of the wing in Cleptornis is not unusual since other insular forms also exhibit this characteristic.
Perhaps Cleptornis is closer to the genus Meliphaga of New Guinea and Australia, which has become differentiated into a number of diverse species and subspecies. Cleptornis compares rather favorably with M. pencillata carteri of Australia, but differs by the softness of its feathers and the shorter wing and shorter tail. It shows also some affinities with M. flava of Australia, particularly in shape of bill; the coloration of the feathers is light olive-green in M. flava. The bird at Saipan seemingly has no relationships with the Hawaiian honey-eaters.
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).