190 



HONEY-EATER. 



47.— MOLUCCA HONEY-EATER. 



Merops Moluccensis, Ind. Orn. i. 276. 



Le Polochion, Bvf. vi. 477. 



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



Molucca Bee-Eater, Gen. Syn. ii. 684. 



SIZE of a Cuckow ; weight five ounces ; length fourteen inches. 

 Bill very pointed, two inches long, notched a little near the tip, and 

 blackish ; nostrils near the middle, pervious, and covered by a 

 membrane at the back part; tongue as long as the bill, terminated 

 by a pencil of hairs ; eyes surrounded with a naked skin ; cheeks 

 black ; hind part of the neck mixed with white ; the feathers of the 

 forehead form an angle backwards ; tips of some of those on the 

 throat silky ; general colour of the plumage grey, lighter beneath ; 

 tail five inches and two-thirds long, composed of twelve feathers, all 

 equal in length, except the outer ones which are a trifle shorter; legs 

 dusky, the outer toe joined to the middle one at the base ; hind claw 

 lamer than the others. 



Inhabits Bouro, one of the Molucca Islands, and is called Polo- 

 chion,* from its note imitating the sound of that word, as its common 

 and perpetual cry when perched on the branches of high trees. 



* This, in the language of those Islanders, signifies kiss ns. 



