P RO TE AC CJE PRO TELES. 



499 



eastward of New Holland ; and the American spe- 

 cies, which have sometimes been added to the genus, 

 all belong to others, either to the sugar-eaters, or to 

 some other genus nearly resembling them. Jn this 

 uncertainty, we can do little more than mention the 

 names of a few of the best-established species, re- 

 marking, that the whole are tree or plant birds, that 

 their tongues are cleft at the extremity, and other- 

 wise adapted for collecting those sweet juices from 

 the nectaries of flowers upon which the birds may, in 

 a great measure, be said to feed. 



SPLENDID PKOMEROPS (E. splendent'). This is a 

 very beautiful bird, a native of Australia, and between 

 nine and ten inches in length. The upper parts, and 

 the head, neck, and breast, are velvet black, with 

 reflections of green and purple ; the feathers on the 

 sides are large, rounded at their extremities, and 

 each marked with a spot of very rich golden green ; 

 the feathers on the Hanks are yellowish white, pro- 

 duced, and having thread-like niches; and some of 

 them have the shafts drawn out in long filaments ; 

 the middle coverts resemble the back, and the exter- 

 nal ones are black, with red borders ; all the under 

 parts are white ; the bill and feet are black. These 

 birds inhabit the Australian forests, and are under- 

 stood to suck the sweet juices of flowers, but their 

 habits are very little known. 



MAGNIFICENT PROMEROPS (E. magnificus}. This 

 is also a native of Australia, a larger bird than the 

 species last mentioned, and still more brilliant in its 

 colours. The upper part is black, with purple reflec- 

 tions, and the coverts of the wings pass into golden 

 purple at the tip and margins ; the quills, which are 

 the same colour as the back, are very broad, and 

 squared over at the ends ; the middle tail-feathers are 

 greenish -purple, and the lateral ones black ; there is 

 a sort of gorget of blue scaly feathers on the throat 

 and fore neck, a collar of bronze-green below it ; and 

 the breast is glazed with silvery reflections; the 

 under parts and flanks are iridescent violet, the 

 feathers on the latter being long, and with loose 

 backs, something resembling those of the birds of 

 'paradise ; the bill and feet are black. The entire 

 length is about twelve inches. 



POINTED-TAILED PROMEROPS (E. caudacutus) is 

 a native of the island .of Madagascar, and about 

 eleven inches in length ; the upper part is black, with 

 dull green reflections ; the primary quills are black, 

 the secondaries mottled with white and yellow in the 

 central parts ; and the tail-feathers, which are painted 

 at the tips, are iridescent black ; the lower parts are 

 blackish brown ; and the bill and feet are black, with 

 a white streak on the ridge of the former. 



HISSING PROMEROPS (E. sibilans). This is a 

 South African species, smaller than any of those 

 already mentioned. The upper part is brown, clouded 

 with olive ; and the lower part white, passing into 

 brown on the flanks, a collar of white surrounds the 

 neck ; the lateral tail-feathers are white, striated 

 with brown and black ; the bill is brown, and the 

 feet yellow ; the bird gets its name on account of the 

 low hissing noise which it makes while flying, but 

 otherwise its manners are very little known. 



AZURE PROMEROPS (E. ci/aneus). This is also a 

 South African species, and one of the largest of the 

 whole, measuring not less than fourteen inches in 

 length. The upper parts are azure blue, with green 

 reflections ; the quills and tail-feathers are silver 

 grey on the under part, with azure margins ; the 



under parts of the body are sky-blue, marked with 

 green ; the bill is blackish ; and the feet bluish grey. 

 This specie? is the Indian hoopoe of some authors, 

 but they are wrong in both respects, as it is neither 

 a hoopoe nor an Indian bird. 



RED-BILLED PROMEROPS (E. erythr&rynekui). This 

 is also African, and measures twelve inches in length, 

 but the female bird is a little less than the male. The 

 upper parts are bright shining green, with reflections 

 of blue and bronze ; the quills and lateral tail-feathers 

 are spotted with white ; the under parts are of a 

 variable colour, green in some lights and violet in 

 others ; and the biil and feet are red. 



NAMAQUA PROMEHOPS (E. cyanomclas). This 

 species, as its name imports, is found in (he Namaqua 

 country, a rich district of Southern Africa, near the 

 conflux of the Great Orange river with the Atlantic. 

 The forests of that country are particularly rich in 

 birds, as well as in antelopes and other animals ; but 

 they cannot be explored without much difficulty and 

 some danger. The present species of promerops is 

 about ten inches long in the male bird. In that sex 

 the upper parts are black, with metallic reflections ; 

 the under parts black, with brown ; the tips of the 

 outer tail-feathers are white ; and the bill and feet 

 black, The female is considerably smaller ; she has 

 the bill less arched, the reflections on the upper part 

 fainter, and the under part much more inclining to 

 brown. 



These are the principal species which have 

 hitherto been discovered of this very peculiar genus. 

 It will be seen that all of them belong to the southern 

 hemisphere, to Southern Africa, New Holland, and 

 the adjacent islands. Some specieshave been described 

 aa being natives of the West lndiaislands,andof various 

 parts of tropical America, but those which have been 

 so described are all birds of different genera, and, 

 generally speaking, belong to the Conirostral family, 

 and not to the slender-billed birds ; and of course 

 this difference in. the structure of so essential an 

 organ as the bill indicates a corresponding difference 

 in the habits. 



PROTEACE^E, a natural order of highly orna- 

 mental evergreen shrubs or trees, chiefly natives of 

 the Cape of Good Hope and New Holland. The 

 order contains thirty-two genera, of which there are 

 three hundred and seventy-five species already de- 

 scribed. The leaves are simple, narrow, entire or 

 serrated. The flowers generally grow in clusters, and 

 are green, yellow, or red, sometimes surrounded 

 by coloured bracta?, with dark hairy margins. 

 The flowers are tetrandrous, with distinct an- 

 thers. The stigma undivided, and mostly oblique 

 The fruit is various, sometimes a single nur, or con- 

 gregated in a kind of cone. The proteas of the 

 Cape, and the Banksias, dryandras, and telopea 

 of New Holland, are the finest plants of the order. 

 They are propagated by cuttings and seeds. '' 



PROTELES, a genus of carnivorous mammalia 

 walking on the toes, and intermediate in structure 

 and appearance between the hyaenas and the geunets, 

 but not strictly admitting of being classified with 

 cither. There is only one known species, a native 

 of Southern Africa, which is a country containing 

 many singular animals ; and in that country it is 

 popularly styled a hyaena, though it is not one in 

 reality. Lalande was the first to discover it ; and 

 Cuvier pointed out its characters, styling it provision- 

 ally the hysena civet, and the hvsena gennet. In 

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