564 PASSERIFORMES CHAP, 
Hens are ordinarily duller (often brownish or green), except 
in Vestiaria and Himatione sanguinea ; the young are greenish- 
yellow reheved by black in Vestiaria, brown and buff in Palmeria 
and Himatione sanguinea, and assume the red or orange gradually. 
These forms now chiefly haunt high damp huill-forests, though 
Vestiarva still occurs near the coast; they fly comparatively little, 
but spend much of their time creeping quietly and rapidly over 
the trunks and branches of acacia, “ ohia,” “mamane,’ and other 
trees, where they hunt for insects below the bark or on the leaves. 
None habitually seek the ground. The long-billed species delight 
in probing the decayed wood, and insert their mandibles into the 
crevices In search of food, which consists partly of lepidopterous 
larvae and spiders. Fruit is largely eaten, pods being split to obtain 
seeds, and honey is sucked either for its own sake or for the 
insects it attracts. The stomach at times contains grit. Most 
forms have a sweet song, the call-note being a reiterated “ tweet ”’ 
or metallic chirp: Rhodacanthis, moreover, whistles. Himatione 
virens makes a nest of roots and decayed leaves in trees, Loxops 
aurea apparently does the same; the former lays whitish eggs 
freckled and streaked with purplish-brown, but little is known 
of the reproduction. The splendid feather-cloaks of the Hawanan 
kings, the “ leis” Qwreaths), waist-bands, and mask-decorations, were 
of old chiefly composed of the plumage of the “ Mamo” (Drepanis 
pacifica), and the Liwi (Vestiaria coccinea); but when the former 
became scarce, the lighter yellow tufts (p. 565) of the O-o 
(Acrulocercus) were utilized to pay the feather tax, though the 
cloaks were still called “ Mamo.” Himatione sanguinea was also 
laid under contribution, as was in later times the domestic cock. 
Fam. XX VI. Meliphagidae.—The Honey-eaters, seldom bigger 
than a Thrush, are remarkable for their extensile quadruple or 
multiple tongue, which is frayed out latero-dorsally. They occupy 
the Australian Region, from which Ptilotis limbata alone crosses 
“Wallace’s line” (p.16)to Bali,and often have very restricted ranges. 
Two Sub-familes may be recognised, Myzomelinae and Meliphaginae. 
The thin curved bill is commonly long, with prominent culmen 
and wide base; Melithreptes and Plectrorhynchus, however, have 
it short, and the latter straight. The maxilla is nearly always 
notched and serrated, several species of Philemon exhibiting a basal 
protuberance. The metatarsi may be long, as in Acrulocercus, or 
abbreviated as in Manorhina, the short anterior toes being partially 
