PASSFRIN^. ."^49 



ElULABES, CuV. 



The Mainates are closely allied to those of the preceding one. Their 

 bill is nearly that of a thrush ; their nostrils are round and smooth. Their 

 distinguishing mark consists in broad strips of naked skin on each side of 

 the occiput, and a bald spot on the cheek. 



LinniEUs has confounded two species of them under the name of Gra- 

 cula religiosa*. 



E. indicus, Enl. 268, the species of India, is the size of a 

 thrush; black, with a white spot near the base of the great feathers 

 of the Aving : the feet, bill, and bald parts of the head, yellow. 



The Java species, E. javanicus, Vieill. Gal. 95, has a broader 

 bill, the commissure extending higher up, more hooked at the end, 

 and without a notch — consequently, it should come after Colaris, 

 Cuv. ; but in every thing else it is precisely similar to the other, and 

 particularly in the strips of bare skin about the head]-. Of all birds, 

 this one is said to imitate most completely the language of man. 



Gracula X, Cuv. 



The Martins form another genus allied to the thrushes. The species 

 inhabit Africa and the countries bordering on the Indian Ocean. Their 

 bill is compressed, very little arcuated, and slightly emarginate ; its com- 

 missure forms an angle like that of the Starling. The feathers on the 

 head are almost always narrow, and there is a naked space round the eye. 

 They have the habits of Starlings ; and, like them, pursue insects in 

 flocks. 



One species is occasionally seen in Europe ; it is the 



Turdus roseus, L. ; Pastor roseus, Meyer; Merula rosea, Naum. 

 63; Enl. 251; VaiU. Afr. (The Rose-coloured Thrush). A bril- 

 liant black ; back, rump, scapulars, and breast of a pale rose ; fea- 



of its bill. — Merops niger, Gm., or fasciculatus, Lath., or Gracula nobilis, Merrem. 

 Beytr. Fasc. I, pi. ii, is still more likely to be one of them — at all events it is no 

 Merops. I also place in this genus the Verdin de la Cochhichine, Enl. 643, which is 

 the second Turdus malabaricus. No. 125 of Gm. — for the first, No. 51, is a Gracula, 

 (hiv. ; — and the Certh. cocincinica, Sh. Vieill. 77 and 78. — Add the Philed. cap negre, 

 Tern. {Certhia atrlcapilla. Lath.), Col. 335, 1. — Philed. moustac. (Melliph. mystacalis, 

 Tem ), lb. 2.— the Philed. grivele (Melliph. maculata, T.), Col. 29, 1.— the Phil, reti- 

 cule (Melliph. reticulata), lb. 2. — the Ph. djoues blancl.es (M. leucotis), Col 435. — 

 the Ihil. Dumerilii, Voy. de Duperr. pi. xxi., and perhaps the fV/i it e- headed Ixos, 

 Ruppel, Av. 4. 



N.B. The Creadion, or Pie a pendeloques is the genus Anthoch.€RA of Swain- 

 son, to which he joins the Merops phrt/gius, &c. The long and slender-billed Phile- 

 dons, such as the Certhia ci/cullata, Vieill. form the genus Myzomela of Swainson. 



• This appellation of religious was only given to it on account of a peculiar trait 

 in its character, related by Bontius (Med. Ind. Or. p. 67), and foreign to its natural 

 habits. I have made it my generic name by translating it into Greek. 



f Nothing can possibly be more perplexing to classifiers, than this difference be- 

 tween the bills of two such similar birds. 



X Vieillot has changed this name into that of Cridotheres, Galer. 148. 



VOL. I. Y 



