HONEY-EATER. 157 



2— YELLOW-TUFTED HONEY-EATER. 



Merops fasciculatus, hid. Orn. i. 275. 



niger, Gm. Lin. i. 465. 



Gracula nobilis, Merrem Ic. p. 7. f. 2. 



Moho, Ellis Narrat. ii. 156. 



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



Yellow-tufted Bee-Eater, Gen. Syn. ii. 683. Id. Sup. 120. Id. Slip. ii. 149. 



LENGTH fourteen inches. Bill one inch and a half long, pretty 

 much bent, and sharp at the tip ; nostrils covered with a membrane ; 

 tongue divided into threads at the end ; general colour of the plu- 

 mage glossy black, the feathers about the throat short, and pointed ; 

 beneath each wing a large tuft of yellow feathers, which does not 

 appear when the wing is closed ; on the vent another patch of the 

 same colour ; tail greatly cuneiform, the two middle feathers seven 

 inches in length, the outer ones only two, and white both on the 

 outer webs and tips, the others black, the ends pointed ; legs black, 

 the outer and middle toes united to the first joint. 



Inhabits Owhyhee, and others of the Sandwich Islands, in great 

 numbers ; where the natives catch them alive, and after plucking 

 out the yellow feathers, give the birds their liberty again, making- 

 use of the feathers so separated, in various ornaments and dresses, of 

 which great variety is to be seen in different collections. Fly-flaps 

 are also made of the tail feathers, the handles to which are not 

 unfrequently made of an arm, or leg bone, of an enemy slain in 

 battle. 



A. — Yellow-tufted Bee-eater, Gen. Syn. Sup.\\. 149. A. Dixon's Voy. pi. 19. 



In this Variety the ends of all the tail feathers are white. 



