HONEY-EATER. 193 



51— HOOK-BILLED RED HONEY-EATER. 



Certhia vestiaria, Ind. Orn. i. 282. 



coccinea, Gm. Lin. i. 470. Forst. Gott. Mag. 1780. iv. 346. Nat. Misc. iii. 



pi. 75. 

 Mellisuga coccinea, Merrem. Ic. Av. 14. t. 4. 

 Polytmus, Bom. Phys. 76. t. 2. f. 1. 2. . 



L'Heoro-taire, Ois. dor. ii. 85. pi. 52. Tern. Man. Ed. ii. Anal, lxxxvi. 

 Hook-billed red Creeper, Gen. Syn. ii. 704. Id. Sup. 127. Cook's last Voy. ii. 207. 



Shaw's Zool. viii. 229. pi. 33. 



LENGTH six inches. Bill one inch and a quarter long, very 

 hooked, and pale coloured ; tongue bristly at the end ; plumage in 

 general fine scarlet ; wings and tail black ; on the coverts, next the 

 body, a white spot, from two or three of the feathers having the 

 outer webs of that colour ; legs the colour of the bill. 



Male and female much alike. 



Young birds are variegated in plumage ; in some the forehead is 

 buff-coloured, and about the head buff and dusky black mixed ; 

 others have patches of buff in various parts. 



Inhabits the Sandwich Islands ; first met with by our people in 

 that of Atooi ; it is gregarious, and caught in snares by the natives, 

 for the sake of the red feathers, with which they make many of their 

 feathered dresses, helmets, and the like ; these birds were not seen 

 alive during our stay at those Islands, but brought in by the natives, 

 fresh killed, to be purchased for a trifle. They are said to feed on 

 the nectar of flowers, into which they thrust their long and ciliated 

 tongue, whereby, in the manner of the Humming Bird, they are able 

 to extract the honey readily. The general name is Eee-eve, but they 

 are called at Atooi, by that of Heoro-taire. 



VOL. IV. C c 



