PASSERIN.S:. 277 



India produces some species tolerably similar to the prece- 

 ding,(l) but we must particularly distinguish from among that 

 number the Oriolus regens, Col. 320 Sericula regens, Less, 

 which is of the finest silky black, with beautiful orange yellow, 

 velvet feathers on the head and neck, and a large spot of the 

 same colour on the wing.(2) 



Gymnops, Cuv. 



The same strong beak as the Orioles; the nostrils round, without 

 scales or surrounding membrane; a great part of the head naked.(3) 

 Some of them have prominences on the beak. (4) In these the 

 tongue is pencillated as in Philedon. 



M-s;uRA, Shaw. 



These Birds, whose size has induced some authors to refer them to 

 the Gallinacese, by the separation of their toes, (the first joint of the 

 external and middle ones excepted,) evidently belong to the order of 

 the Passerinse, and approach the Thrushes in their beak, which is 

 triangular at base, elongated, slightly compressed, and emarginate 

 near the point. The membranous nostrils are large, and partly 

 covered over by feathers, as in the Jays, They are distinguished by 

 the great tail of the male, which is very remarkable for the three 

 sorts of feathers which compose it, viz. the twelve common ones 

 with very fine and widely separated barbs; two more in the middle 

 only one side of which is furnished with thickly set barbs, and two 

 external ones curved into the figure of an S, or like the arms of a 

 lyre, whose internal barbs, large and thickly set, form a kind of 

 broad riband, while those that are external are very short, becoming 



(1) Oriolus chinensis, Enl. 570; Or. melanocephalus, Enl. 79, or Loriot rieur, 

 Vaill. Afr. 2605 the Loriot d'or, Vaill., 260; Vieill. Gal. 83; the Coudougnan, 

 Vaill., 2, 61; the Oriolus xanthonotus, Hoi-sf. Jav. 



(2) M. Lesson (Voy. Duperr., pi. xx,) gives as its female, a Thrush-coloured 

 bird which differs considerably in its proportions. 



(3) The Goulin gris {Gracula calva, Gm.), Enl. 200; the Goulin vert {Mino Du- 

 montii, 'Less.),Yoy. de Dupen\,pl. xxv; the Goulin olive [Graculacyanotis, Lath.; 

 Merops cyanotis, Shaw). 



(4) The CorbicalaOyYaSW; Ois. A^ Am. et6.&s\n6.e.s, \)\. xxw {Merops comiculatus. 

 Lath, and Shaw, ) and a neighbouring species whose larger tubercle is directed 

 towards the front {Mer. monachus, Lath.). These two New-Holland birds are 

 neither Horn-bills nor Bee-eaters, for their external toes are not more united 

 than those of the most common Passerince. 



N.B. The Or. regens is the Melliphaga regia of Lewin and the Sericulus chryso- 

 cephalus of Swainson. 



The Corbtcalao forms the genus Tropidorhtnchus of Swainson. 



