INSESSORES. 



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2. Artamus mentalis, Jardine. 



Arfamus mentalis, Jardine, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. XVI, p. 174 (1845). 

 Ocypterus mentalis, Peale, Zool. Exp. Exp. Birds, p. 84 (1848).* 



Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. XVI, Plate VIII ; Voy. Astrolabe and 

 Zelee, Ois. Plate IX, fig. 1. 



Numerous specimens of this fine species from the Feejee Islands 

 agree in all important particulars with the description by Sir William 

 Jardine, and with the plates cited above. They are, however, gene- 

 rally, so far as can be judged from prepared specimens, rather larger 

 than as stated in the original description, but very nearly the size re- 

 presented in the plate in the Zoological Atlas to the Voyage of the 

 Astrolabe and Zelee. 



This bird is one of the largest of its genus, but strictly of the same 

 general characters as the well-known species of the Asiatic Islands, and 

 of Australia. 



Mr. Peale's account of this species is as follows : 



" Both sexes are alike in plumage, and can hardly be distinguished 

 from each other ; the males are, however, a trifle the larger. It in- 

 habits all the islands of the Feejee Group, and is found only in such 

 places as are not covered with trees or bushes. In open grounds it 

 may be seen sitting on a dead branch of some solitary tree, patiently 

 watching for grasshoppers, on which it generally feeds. Sometimes it 

 will start in pursuit of insects on the wing, when its movements and 

 appearance are those of a swallow, with this difference, that it fre- 

 quently hovers over one particular spot, and plunges into the grass, 

 as kingfishers do into the water. We occasionally saw this species in 

 companies of three or four, but more frequently solitary." 



* " Head, ttroat, back, wings, and tail, black ; rump, under tail-coverts, and all the 

 under parts, white, a narrow white tip to the tail; feet, dark lead-color; bill, blue; 

 irides, brown. 



"Total length, eight inches; extent of wings, fourteen and three-fourths inches ; wing, 

 from the carpal joint, five and four-tenths inches; tail, two and eight-tenths inches; 

 tarsi, seven-tenths of an inch ; middle toe, including claw, eight-tenths of an inch ; claw, 

 three-tenths of an inch ; hind toe, six-tenths of an inch; claw, three-tenths of an inch ; 

 bill, eight-tenths of an inch; to the angle of the mouth, one and one-tenth of an inch. 

 Female." 



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