162 HONEY-EATER. 



pervious, oval, in a hollow, the feathers coming forward to near the 

 middle of the bill to meet them ; tongue bristly at the end ; on the 

 forehead a short, blunt eminence, like the rudiment of a horn ; the 

 plumage on the head whitish, streaked with brown; the feathers 

 very short, and downy ; sides round the eye brown ; upper parts of 

 the body brown, the feathers margined with olive brown; quills and 

 tail darker ; the first quill only half the length of the second ; under 

 parts of the body pale ; chin, breast, and belly dusky white ; tail 

 about six inches long, even at the end, the shafts and tips of all but 

 the two middle feathers whitish ; the wings, when closed, reach to 

 about the middle of it; legs brown ; segments, near the toes, rough 

 and scaly; outer and middle toes united at the base; hind claw very 

 long, and stout. 



Inhabits New-Holland, and is a singular species; that figured in 

 White's Journal is exact. M. Levaillant describes the head and neck 

 as bare, only the chin being feathery : to account for this is not easy, 

 unless it becomes so in old birds, or the circumstance may distinguish 

 the sex. This Species is found perched on the topmost boughs of 

 tall trees ; the food insects and honey, extracting the latter from 

 various flowering plants and shrubs. The Perroquets are in enmity 

 with this bird, nor do they ever part before a severe combat. It is 

 called by the English in New-Holland, The Friar- Bird. 



7 —COWLED HONEY-EATER. 



Merops Monachus, Ind. Orn. Sup. xxxiv. 



Cowled Bee-Eater, Gen. Sijn. Sup. ii. 155. Shaw's Zool. viii. 166. 



THIS is a large species. Bill stout, bending, and black, having 

 a rising over the nostrils, as in the Knob-fronted, but less conspicuous ; 

 neck feathery before, as in that bird ; tongue very bristly at the end, 

 like a brush ; head and part of the neck black, and covered with a 



