172 YELLOW-TUFTED BEE-EATER. 



on each side beyond the eyes in a pointed form : 

 immediately behind each eye a yellow spot : tail 

 long and cuneiform : bill and legs yellow. Native 

 of New Holland, and said to be of a noisy chatter- 

 ing disposition. 



YELLOW-TUFTED BEE-EATER. 



Merops fasciculatus. M. nigro-nitens, crisso fasciculoque axillari 



jlavis, cauda maxime cuneiformi, rectrice extima tota, proxima 



latere exteriore alba. Lath. ind. orn. 

 Glossy-black Bee-Eater ? with yellow rump and axillary plumes, 



and greatly cuneiform tail, with the exterior feather entirely 



white and the next white on outside. 

 Yellow-tufted Bee-Eater. Lath. syn. 



TOTAL length about fourteen inches; of which 

 the tail measures half: general colour glossy black; 

 head and throat covered with soft, short, pointed 

 feathers : beneath each wing a large pendent tuft 

 of yellow plumes : vent yellow : tail strongly cunei- 

 form ; the two exterior feathers measuring about 

 two inches, and the two middle ones seven ; these 

 two feathers are edged and tipped with white : the 

 rest are black : bill and legs black. Native of the 

 Sandwich islands, where it is much esteemed 

 on account of the tufts of yellow feathers beneath 

 the wings, which are used in various ornamental 

 articles of dress among the natives, and which 

 might justify placing this species among a parti- 

 cular division of the genus Certhia. 



