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.