AVES. 491 



Sphecotkeres VIEILL. Bill short, keeled, curved, emarginate. 

 Nostrils placed in a fossa. Orbital region naked. Tarsi short. 

 Hallux large. Wings with first quill short, fourth longest of all. 

 Tail moderate, broad, even. 



Sp. Sphecotheres viridis VIEILL., Gal. des Ois. PI. 147, Australia; Spheco- 

 theres minor MUELLEB, Verhand. &c., Timor, &c. 



Sericulus SwAlNS. 



Note. Habitus and characters almost of Oriolus; but tarsi longer. 

 Tail even, subemarginate. Wings with third, fourth and fifth quills 

 longest of all, nearly equal. Sp. Oriolus regens TEMM., PI. col. 320. 



Family XXXIX. Sturnince. Primaries in some nine, in 

 others ten, with the first very small. Wing-coverts short. Tarsi 

 covered anteriorly with transverse scutes, posteriorly and on each 

 side with a continuous, horny scute. Outer toes conjoined at the 

 base only. Bill subulate, mostly straight or moderately curved, 

 in many emarginate before the tip. 



Buphaga L. (Buphagus BRISS.). Bill short, curved, broad at 

 the base. Lower mandible high, with angle somewhat prominent 

 before the tip. Nostrils basal, placed in a fossa near the culmen 

 of bill. Tarsi longer than middle toe. Claws large, curved, 

 compressed. Wings with first quill very small, second, third and 

 fourth subequal, third longest of all. Tail moderate, cuneate. 



Sp. Buphaga Levaillanti nob., Buphaga africana L., BUFF. PI. enl. 293, 

 LESSON Ornith. PI. 48, fig. i ; Senegal, Cape of Good Hope ; Buphaga 

 erythrorhyncha TEMM., Tanagra erythrorhyncha STANLEY, SALT Voyage to 

 Abyssinia, Appendix rv. p. Lix. ; in Nubia, Abyssinia, Madagascar; the 

 'beef-eaters eat all kinds of insects and especially the larvae that live under 

 the skin of cattle, on which account they collect together in large flights 

 on pastures. 



Gracula L. (in part), TEMM., Eulabes Cuv. Bill moderate, 

 subcurved, compressed, mostly emarginate before the tip. Nostrils 

 lateral, placed in a plumed fossa. Feet strong; tarsus equalling 

 middle toe. Claws curved, strong. Wings with first quill short, 

 third and fourth subequal, fourth longest of all. 



a) With tail even. 



Sp. Gracula religiosa L. (in part), Eulabes indicus Cuv., BUFF. PI. enl. 268, 

 LESSON Ornith. PI. 37, fig. 2, and some other very similar species from the 



