564 PASSERIFORMES 



CHAP. 



Hens are ordinarily duller (often brownish or green), except 

 in Vestiaria and Himatione sanguined ; the young are greenish- 

 yellow relieved by black in Vestiaria, brown and buff in Palmeria 

 and Himatione sanguinea, and assume the red or orange gradually. 



These forms now chiefly haunt high damp hill-forests, though 

 Vestiaria still occurs near the coast; they fly comparatively little, 

 but spend much of their time creeping quietly and rapidly over 

 the trunks and branches of acacia, " ohia," " mamane," and other 

 trees, where they hunt for insects below the bark or on the leaves. 

 None habitually seek the ground. The long-billed species delight 

 in probing the decayed wood, and insert their mandibles into the 

 crevices in search of food, which consists partly of lepidopterous 

 larvae and spiders. Fruit is largely eaten, pods being split to obtain 

 seeds, and honey is sucked either for its own sake or for the 

 insects it attracts. The stomach at times contains grit. Most 

 forms have a sweet song, the call-note being a reiterated " tweet " 

 or metallic chirp ; Rliodacanthis, moreover, whistles. Himatione 

 virens makes a nest of roots and decayed leaves in trees, Loxops 

 aurea apparently does the same ; the former lays whitish eggs 

 freckled and streaked with purplish-brown, but little is known 

 of the reproduction. The splendid feather-cloaks of the Hawaiian 

 kings, the " leis " (wreaths), waist-bands, and mask-decorations, were 

 of old chiefly composed of the plumage of the " Mamo " (Drepanis 

 pacifica), and the liwi ( Vestiaria coccined) ; but when the former 

 became scarce, the lighter yellow tufts (p. 565) of the O-o 

 (Acrulocercus) were utilized to pay the feather tax, though the 

 cloaks were still called " Mamo." Himatione sanguinea was also 

 laid under contribution, as was in later times the domestic cock. 



Fam. XXVI. Meliphagidae. The Honey-eaters, seldom bigger 

 than a Thrash, are remarkable for their extensile quadruple or 

 multiple tongue, which is frayed out latero-dorsally. They occupy 

 the Australian Region, from which Ptilotis liinbata alone crosses 

 "Wallace's line "(p. 1 6) to Bali, and often have very restricted ranges. 

 Two Sub-families may be recognised, Myzomelinae and Meliphaginae . 

 The thin curved bill is commonly long, with prominent culmen 

 and wide base ; Melithreptes and Plectrorhynclius, however, have 

 it short, and the latter straight. The maxilla is nearly always 

 notched and serrated, several species of Philemon exhibiting a basal 

 protuberance. The metatarsi may be long, as in Acrulocercus, or 

 abbreviated as in Manorhina, the short anterior toes being partially 



