PASSERINE. 273 
PuILepon.(1) 
Their beak is compressed, slightly arcuated throughout its length, 
and emarginate near the points nostrils large, and covered by a car- 
tilaginous scale; their tongue terminated by a pencil of hairs. 
The species, generally remarkable for some singularity of con- 
formation, have been bandied about by authors in all kinds of genera. 
Some of them have fleshy bobs at the base of the beak.(2) 
In others, portions of the skin on the cheeks are divested of feath- 
ers.(3) . 
» Even in those which are completely feathered, we still observe, at 
times, a singular disposition of the plumage.(4) : 
» — (1) Commerson had an idea of thus naming the Polochion (Merops moluccensis, 
Gm.), which is of this genus. See Buff. Hist. des Ois., VI, 4to, p. 477. Vieillot 
places the greater number of these birds in his genus Polochion, and in Latin he pre- 
fers calling it Philemon rather than Philedon, Gal. 189. The genus Mexrruaca of 
Lewin also is comprised in it. 
(2) Here comes the New Holland bird called by Daudin, Ornith. Il, pl. xvi, Pie 
a pendeloques, or Corvus paradoxus, Vieill. Gal. 24, the same as the Merops caruncu- 
latus of Phillip., of Latham and of Shaw, but which has not the feet of a Merops, 
and whose beak is notched, the tongue pencillated, and nostrils without feathers. 
The Sturnus carunculatus, Lath. and Gm., or Gracula carunculata, Daud. and Shaw 
(Lath. Syn., Il, pl. xxxvi), and the Certhia carunculata, Lath. and Gm. (Vieill. 
Ois. Dor., LI, pl. lxix), also appear to me to belong to it. The latter bird, it is 
said, sings delightfully, and belongs to the Friendly Islands. It is from this sub- 
division that Vieillot has taken his genus Creapion, Gal. 94. 
(3). The Merops phrygius of Shaw, Gen. Zool. VIII, pl. xx;—the Goruck, Vieill. 
Ois. Dor., H, pl. Ixxxviii (C. goruck, Sh.);—the F'uscalbin, Id. 1b., pl. Ixi, (C. luna- 
ta);—the Graculé, Id, Ib., pl. Ixxxvii, (C. graculina’;—the Polochion of Buff. (Me- 
rops moluccensis, Gm. );—the Ph. @ oreilles jaunes, Less. Voy. de Duperrey, pl. 21, 
bis, and some new species belong to this division. 
(4) Particularly in the Merops Nove Hollandix, Gm. and Brown, Ill. ix, or Merle 
a cravatte frisée, Vaill., Afr., or Merops circinnatus, Lath. and Shaw, Gen. Zool. 
Vill, pl. xxii. They are the feathers of the ears which become frizzled, as they 
descend to almost in front of the breast.— Melliph. auricornis, Swains., Zool. Ul. p. 43. 
Add Certh. auriculata, Vieill. Ois. Dor. 85;—C. Nove Hollandiz, Ib. 7. 
The species which have none of these singularities are the Certhia xantotus, Sh. 
Vieill. Ois. Dor., Il, pl. 84;—C. australasiana, 1b. 55;—C. mellivora, Ib. 86;—C. 
cerulea, Ib. 83 ;—C. seniculus, lb. 50. I am even of opinion that the Cap noir, 
Vieill. pl. 60, (Certhia cweullata, Sh.) belongs to them, notwithstanding the length 
of its beak;—Merops niger, Gm. or fasciculatus, Lath. or Gracula nobilis, Merrem. 
Beytr. Fasc., I, pl. ii, is still more likely to be one of them—at all events it 
is no Merops. [also place in this genus: the Verdin de la Cochinehine, Enl. 643, 
which is the second J'wrdus malabaricus, No. 195 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. (Mel- 
liph. mystacalis, Tem.) Ib. 2;—the Philéd. grivelé (Melliph. maculata, T.); Col. 29; 1; 
Vou. L.—2 K 
