266 Wonders of the Bird World 



by degrees, as it is difficult to understand where any advan- 

 tage from " mimicry " in any of these species can be 

 detected. Another instance of the same phenomenon in 

 South American Hawks is seen in the case of Accipiter 

 pileatus and Harpagus diodon, which belong to different 

 sections of the Accipitres, the Accipiter being a large 

 Sparrow-hawk and the Harpagus a soft-plumaged Kite- 

 Falcon. The species of the genus Harpagus have a double 

 tooth in the bill and are insectivorous and tolerably harm- 

 less for birds of prey, and here the advantage must be on 

 the side of the more fiery Sparrow-hawk, if the latter, by 

 reason of the similarity of its plumage, which extends to 

 the young birds also, is mistaken for the more harmless 

 Harpagus, and is therefore approached more closely by the 

 small birds which it preys upon, a mistake only discovered 

 when too late by its victims. 



Perhaps, however, the most wonderful instance of 

 mimicry in birds is the one brought to notice by Dr. A. 

 R. Wallace, who pointed out that, in certain of the Molucca 

 Islands, there exist, side by side, an Oriole {Mimeta) and a 

 Hel meted Honey-eater {Philemon), which are exact copies 

 of each other. Thus in the island of Bourou, Mimeta 

 bourouensis and Philemon bonrouensis are exactly alike in 

 plumage, and in Ceram we find a similar instance in Mimeta 

 forsteni and Philemon subcornutns. 



When Dr. H. O. Forbes visited the Tenimber Islands, he 

 also discovered there the usual Oriole in Mimeta decipiens, 

 and its double, Philemon plumigenis. The resemblance in 

 these birds, which belong to such widely different families 

 as the Oriolidce, with their horny, Thrush-like tongue, and 

 the Meliphagidce, which always have a feathered or brush- 

 like tongue, is certainly very remarkable, and it is carried 

 out to the letter, the dark bare space round the eyes of the 

 Philemon being reproduced by darkened feathers in the 

 Mimeta, while even the little whitish eyebrow is common to 



