BXE-EATER BEEF-EATER — HONEY-EATER. 329 



From far Polynesid's Taheitian grove, 



Where, 'midst Flora's rich realm is his pleasure to rove, 



In his glossy green-black came the Poe-bird (*♦) 



bright, 

 Whose plumage and note afford equal delight. 



One of the handsomest of the tribe is the Viridis, or Indian- 

 Bee Eater, of a green colour, with a black belt on the breast 

 and the throat, and tail of the same hue; of this there are 

 several varieties, inhabitants of Bengal. 



('3) Order, Pic^,(Liwn.) Beef-Eater. 



The genus Buphaga, {Linn.) or Beef-Eater, consists of 

 two species only, distinguished by a straight somewhat square 

 bill, mandible gibbous, entire, more gibbous on the outside ; 

 legs gressorial. The Africana^ African-Beef-Eater, or 

 African- Oxpeckeif is eight and a half inches long; picks 

 holes in the backs of cattle, for the purpose of getting at tlie 

 larva of the gad fly ; feeds also on insects ; found near the river 

 Senegal in Africa, and parts within the Cape of Good Hope. 



The Striped-Beef-Eater is the size of the former ; a spe- 

 cimen is in the museum of Mr. Bullock. 



(^*) Order, Pic^e, (Lath.) Honey-Eater, the Po'e, the 

 Great-Hook-Billed, the Hook-billed, «&c. 



ThegenusANTHOPiiAGUs,(La//i.) or Honey-Eater, consists 

 of seventy species ; they have a bill somewhat triangular at the 

 ba^e, and more or less bent at the tip; nostrils rounded, partly 

 covered by a membrane ; tongue more or less extensile, formed 

 for collecting haney from flowers, which is supposed to be their 

 principal food ; legs made for walking. This genus is also di- 

 vided by Dr. Latham into those with thrush-like bills, and those 

 tcith creeper bills. The following are examples of each : 



Tlie Cincinnatus, (Lath.) Foe-Honey-Eateu, Poe-Bee-Ealer, 

 Poe Bird, or Kogo, with a thrush-like bill, is rather larger than 



