156 HONEY-EATER. 



* WITH THRUSH-LIKE BILLS. 



1 — POE HONEY-EATER. 



Merops cincinnatus, Ind. Om. i. 275. 

 . novae Seelandise, Gm. Lin. i. 464. 



Sturnus crispicollis, Daud. ii. 314. Levail. Ois. pi. 92. 

 New-Zealand Creeper, Brown Jll. xviii. pi. 9. Forst. Voy. i. 519. 

 Philedon, Tern. Man. Ed. ii. Anal. p. Ixxxvii. 



Poe Bee-Eater, Gen. Syn. ii. 682. Cook's Voy.\. p. 48. 150. Shaw's Zool. viii. 269. 

 pi. 22. 



RATHER bigger than a Blackbird ; length eleven inches. Bill 

 one inch and a quarter long, bent, black ; inside of the mouth and 

 tongue yellow, the last black at the end, and furnished with a few 

 bristles ; general colour of the plumage deep greenish black, and in 

 many parts very glossy ; neck feathers fine and long, the webs of a 

 loose texture, and somewhat curled, standing from the neck not 

 unlike a ruff, and each feather has a streak of white down the shaft; 

 on each side of the neck a bunch or tuft of curled feathers, wholly 

 white ; greater wing coverts white, forming a bar ; tail coverts rich 

 blue ; tail the same as the rest of the body, and even at the end; legs 

 black, outer and middle toe united for part of their length. 



I have observed in some drawings, birds of this kind, without the 

 tuft of curled white feathers on the neck, and which we may suppose 

 were females, if not young birds. 



Inhabits New Zealand, and called Kogo, but better known by 

 the name of Poe Bird : is held in great esteem by the natives.* Said 

 to sing remarkably well.f 



* Forst. Voy. i. 519. f Its note is sweet, and the flesh delicate, and the greatest 



luxury the woods afforded us. — Cook's Voy. i. p. 68. 



