GENERAL HABITS 201 



districts. Other and even more interesting cases 

 of avine mimicry have been recorded by Wallace, 1 

 who writes as follows : " More perfect cases 

 of mimicry occur between some of the dull- 

 coloured Orioles in the Malay Archipelago and 

 a genus of large Honey-suckers the Tropi- 

 dorhynchi or ' Friar Birds.' These latter are 

 powerful and noisy birds, which go in small 

 flocks. They have long, curved, and sharp 

 beaks, and powerful grasping claws ; and they 

 are quite able to defend themselves, often driv- 

 ing away Crows and Hawks which venture to 

 approach them too nearly. The Orioles, on 

 the other hand, are weak and timid birds, and 

 trust chiefly to concealment and to their retir- 

 ing habits to escape persecution. In each of 

 the great islands of the Austro-Malayan region 

 there is a distinct species of Tropidorhynchus, 

 and there is always along with it an Oriole that 

 exactly mimics it. All the Tropidorhynchi have 

 a patch of bare black skin round the eyes and 

 a ruff of curious pale recurved feathers on the 

 nape, whence their name of Frinr Birds, the 

 ruff being supposed to resemble the cowl of a 

 friar. These peculiarities are imitated in the 

 Orioles by patches of feathers of corresponding 



1 Darwinism, pp. 263, 264. 



