428 HONE Y-EA TER 



i^ 



and others to the true Falcons, Yet it may be doubted whether 

 further observation of such forms as Leptodon or Cymindis, and Baza 

 or Avicida will admit of their being placed very near to the present 

 genus. The last named inhabits the south-eastern portion of the 

 Old "World ; while the first belongs to the Neotropical Region. 



HONEY-EATER or HONEY-SUCKER, names applied by many 

 writers in a very loose way to a large number of birds, some of 

 which have no intimate affinity ; but here to be used for the Family 

 Meliphagidx in a restricted sense — excluding therefrom the Cairehidx 

 (Dacnis), Diceeidx (Dictum), iJrepanididse (Drepanis), and Neda- 

 riniidx (Sun-bird), as well as the genera Promerops and Zosterops 

 with Avhatever allies they may possess. Even with this restriction, 

 the extent of the Family must be regarded as indefinite, owing to 

 the absence of materials sufficient for arriving at a satisfactory con- 

 clusion, though the existence of such a Family may be indisputable. 

 Making allowance then for the imperfect light in which they must 

 at present be viewed, it includes some of the most characteristic 

 forms of the ornithology of the New -Zealand and Australian 

 Regions — but a single species on]j, 'Ffilotis limhata (which just 

 crosses " Wallace's Line " to Bali), being said to occur outside 

 their limits. They all possess, or are supposed to possess, a long 

 protrusible tongue with a frayed, brush-like tip, differing in its 

 quadruple or multiple structure, and laciniated outer border (rf. 

 Gadow, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1883, p. 66) from that found in any other 

 bird, and capable of being formed into a suctorial tube, by means 

 of which honey is absorbed from the nectary of flowers, though it 

 would seem that insects attracted by the honey furnish the chief 

 nourishment of many species, while others undoubtedly feed to a 

 greater or less extent on fruits. The Meliphagidx, as now con- 

 sidered, are for the most part small birds, none exceeding a Jay in 



size — Entomyza cyanofh, the 

 " Blue - eye " of Australian 

 colonists, being one of the 

 largest. They have been 

 Entomyza. myzomela. divided into some 24 genera, 



(After swainson.) containing about 1 50 species, 



of which only a few can here be particularized. Most of the forms 

 have a very confined range, being found perhaps only on a single 

 island or group of islands, but there are a few which are more widely 

 distributed. In plumage they vary much. The species of Ptilotis are 

 generally characterized by a tuft of white, or in others of yellow, 

 feathers springing from behind the ear. In the greater number of the 

 genus Myzomela the males are recognizable by a gorgeous display of 

 crimson or scarlet, which has caused one species, 71/. sangmnolenta, to 

 / be known as the SotBfER-BiRD to Australian colonists ; but in others 



