624 



KIN'GSFISHER. 



Place, 



14. 



RESPECTED 

 K. 



Description. 



Place. 



This fpecies inhabits Apye, one of the Friendly TJles, where it ia 

 held as facred among; the natives as that of Otaheite. 



IZE of our common Kingsfifher : length eight inches and a 

 half. Bill depreffed, black, and an inch and a half in length ; 

 the lower mandible white : the upper parts of the body olive- 

 green : over the eye a white ftreak : found the neck a collar of 

 greenifh black : the under parts of the body white : tail longifh : 

 legs black. 



Inhabits Otaheite, where it is called Erocro. It is accounted 

 facred *, and not allowed to be taken nor killed. 



BLACK- 

 CAPPED 



K. 



Description. 



Le Martin-pecheur a coifl'e noire, Buf. cif. vii. p. 189. 

 Martin-pecheur de la Chine, PI. enl. 6/3. 



^TT^HIS bird is ten inches in length. The bill is large, and of 

 a bright red : the head and hind part of the nerk are black : 



* The whole of the birds defcribed under this and the two former numbers, 

 are held in a kind of fuperftidous veneration by the natives of the places they 

 feverally inhabit, perhaps on account of their being frequently feen flying about 

 the Morals or burial-places ; See Par&infon's Journ. p. 70. But the Kingsfijher is 

 not the only animal held facred by thofe iflanders, as Herons, Rats, and Flies enter 

 the fame lift; See Park. Journ. Errat. p. 22. Forjl. Voy. i. p. 519. Women and 

 children, I have been informed, were moil afraid of doing injury to the Kings' 

 fijbers; yet all perfons, it is plain, did not mind it, for fome of the natives were 

 ready to point them out for our people to (hoot at ; For/1. Voy. i. p. 378. I Fancy, 

 therefore, the whole was no more than what is paid by tender minds to the 

 Robin and Wren in England, only carried to a greater extreme. 



the 



