164 HONEY-EATER. 



9— CHATTERING HONEY-EATER. 



Merops garrulus, Ind. Orn. Sup. xxxiv. 



Chattering Bee-Eater, Gen. Syn. Sup. ii. 154. Shaw's Zool. viii. 171. 



LENGTH eleven or twelve inches. Bill moderately stout, as in 

 the Thrush, and a little bent, yellow ; nostrils in a slit near the base; 

 tongue bristly at the end, and longer than the bill ; across the crown 

 black, passing down on each side behind the eye to the ears, and 

 there finishing; within this, close behind the eye, a large yellow bare 

 space like Morocco leather ; general colour of the plumage above 

 grey or pale brown, marbled with a darker colour ; forehead, and 

 all beneath, white, waved as far as the breast with cinereous; thighs 

 barred dusky and white ; wings dusky brown, in some black ; but 

 the greater part of the prime quills yellow, with dusky, or black 

 ends, giving the appearance of a yellow, long streak down the wing; 

 tail four inches and a half long, and slightly cuneiform, the feathers 

 dusky, with white ends, most so on the outmost ones ; legs strong, 

 and yellow ; in some birds pale brown ; the outer and middle toes 

 united at the base ; the wings reach to the middle of the tail. 



Inhabits New South Wales ; is a noisy, chattering species, and 

 pretty numerous, always at war with the rest of the feathered race ; 

 alarms others in the manner of our Jay, thereby giving notice of the 

 approach of man to the Kangaroo or Pottegorang, so as to prevent 

 the sportsman from attaining the ends of his chace. 



