^58 



MELIPHAGIDiE. 



black, with a purplish tinge : body above and beneath 

 deep brown-black : wings and tail black and glossy ; 

 the greater quills black, but about the middle white, 

 more or less, on both webs, but the two outer only 

 on the inner web, forming a bar : the ends of all ash- 

 colour, deepest near the tip : the tail slightly cunei- 

 form, four inches and a half long, the outer feathers 

 three inches and a half, colour wholly plain black : 

 legs black ; the first quill shortest, the three next of 

 one length, the rest gradually shorter. 



FAMILY V.-MELIPHAGIDiE. 



Rostrum diver sum, plerumque compressum^arcuatum, versus apicem 



subemarginatum : nares elongatce, in rimd longitudinaM positoe: 



lingua tiibulosa, apice pilosa. 

 Beak various, generally compressed, bent, towards the tip rather 



notched ; nostrils elongated, placed in a longitudinal cleft : 



tongue tubular, pilose at the tip. 



The Meliphagidas are natives of Australasia and 

 the adjacent islands : they are of more sombre plu- 

 mage than the birds of the three last families : the 

 structure of the beak is so various that the different 

 species have been indiscriminately scattered among 

 every group of the order, as may be observed by a 

 reference to the synonyms : the brush-like struc- 

 ture of the tongue is well adapted for extracting their 

 food from the nectaries of flowers. Their elongated 

 nostrils at once distinguish them from the rest of the 

 tribe. 



