PASSFRINZ. 249 
Eurases, Cuv. 
The Mainates are closely allied to those of the preceding one. Their 
billis nearly that of a thrush; their nostrils are round and smooth. Their 
distinguishing mark consists in broad strips of naked skin on each side of 
the occiput, and a bald spot on the cheek. 
Linneus has confounded two species of them under the name of Gra- 
cula religiosa*. 
E. indicus, Enl. 268, the species of India, is the size of a 
thrush; black, with a white spot near the base of the great feathers 
of the wing: the feet, bill, and bald parts of the head, yellow. 
The Java species, EF. javanicus, Vieill. Gal. 95, has a broader 
bill, the commissure extending higher up, more hooked at the end, 
and without a notch—consequently, it should come after Colaris, 
Cuv.; but in every thing else it is precisely similar to the other, and 
particularly in the strips of bare skin about the head}. Of all birds, 
this one is said to imitate most completely the language of man. 
Gracuta ft, Cuv. 
The Martins form another genus allied to the thrushes. The species 
inhabit Africa and the countries bordering on the Indian Ocean. Their 
bill is compressed, very little arcueted, and slightly emarginate; its com- 
missure forms an angle like that of the Starling. The feathers on the 
head are almost always narrow, and there is a naked space round the eye. 
They have the habits of Starlings; and, like them, pursue insects in 
flocks. 
One species is occasionally seen in Europe; it is the 
Turdus roseus, L.; Pastor roseus, Meyer; Merula rosea, Naum. 
63; Enl. 251; Vaill. Afr. (The Rose-coloured Thrush). A bril- 
liant black; back, rump, scapulars, and breast of a pale rose; fea- 
of its bill—Merops niger, Gm., or fasciculatus, Lath., or Gracula nobilis, Merrem. 
Beytr. Fase. I, pl. ii, is still more likely to be one of them—at all events it is no 
Merops. I also place in this genus the Verdin de la Cochinchine, Enl. 6483, which is 
the second Turdus malabaricus, No. 125 of Gm.—for the first, No. 51, is a Gracula, 
Cuv. ;—and the Certh. cocincinica, Sh. Vieill. 77 and 78.—Add the Philed. cap négre, 
Tem. (Certhia atricapilla. Lath.), Col. 335, 1.—Philéd. moustac. (Melliph. mystacalis, 
Tem ), Ib. 2.—the Philed. grivele (Melliph. maculata, 'T.), Col. 29, 1.—the Phil. réti- 
culé (Melliph. reticulata), Ib. 2.—the Ph. & joues blanciies (M. leucotis), Col. 435.— 
the Phil. Dumerilii, Voy. de Duperr. pl. xxi., and perhaps the White-headed Iros, 
Ruppel, Av. 4. 
N.B. The Creapron, or Pie @ pendeloques is the genus ANTHOCHARA of Swain- 
son, to which he joins the Merops phrygius, &c. The long and slender-billed Phile- 
dons, such as the Certhia cucullata, Vieill. form the genus MyzomMELa of Swainson. 
* This appellation of religious was only given to it on account of a peculiar trait 
in its character, related by Bontius (Med. Ind. Or. p. 67), and foreign to its natural 
habits. I have made it my generic name by translating it into Greek. 
+ Nothing can possibly be more perplexing to classifiers, than this difference be- 
tween the bills of two such similar birds. 
+ Vieillot has changed this name into that of CripoTHERES, Galer. 148. 
VOL. I. Y 
