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Show 276 AVES. MANORHINA, Vieill. The beak much compressed, but little arcuated, and slightly sloped; large nostrils, almost entirely closed by a membrane, which d the opening to a narrow slit; the neck is short. The feathers re uces f b' d · · on the forehead, which are as soft as those o young 1r s, mchne partly over the nostrils.( 1) PvnRHOCORAX, Cuv.(2) The compressed, arcuated, and sloped bea~ of the Thrushes; ~ut their nostrils are covered with feathers, as m the Crows, to whtch they were for a long time united. There is one in Europe about the size of the Corv. monedttla. Corvus pyrrhocorax, L.; Chocard des .B.lpes, Enl. 531; Vieill. Galer. 106; Naum. 57, 1. All black; the beak yellow; feet, brown at first then yellow and red in the adult; builds in rocky fissures of th: highest mountains, whence, in the winter, it de· scends in to the valleys in large flocks. It feeds on insects, snails, grain, and fruit, and does not despise carrion. There is another in India, Pyrr. hexanemus, Cuv.; the Sicrin, Vaill. Afr. pl. ln~ii. Distinguished by three barbless stalks as long as the body, whtch grow on each side among the feathers which cover the ear. I can find no character sufficient to warrant removing from the Thrushes 0RIOLus, Lin. Or the Orioles, whose beak, similar to that of the Thrushes, is merely a little stronger; the feet a little shorter, and the wings a little longe1·, in proportion. Linnreus, and most of his followers, impro· perly united Cassici with them, to which they have no other resem· blance than that of colours. 0. galbula, L.; Le loriot d'.Europe, Enl. 26; Golden Tl£rush, Yellow Thrush of the Germans, &c. Somewhat larger than the Thrush. The male is of a fine yellow; wings, tail, and a spot between the eye and the beak, black; tip of the tail yellow. During its two first years, however, the yellow is replaced by an olive, and the black by a brown, which is always the case with the female. This bird suspends its skilfully wrought ne~t to branches of trees, feeds on cherries and other fruits, and 10 the spring on insects. It is very shy, remains in France but a little time during the summer, and travels in pairs, or by threes. (1) Manorhinaviridis, Vieill. Gal. 149;-Merops albifrons, Shaw? (2) Vieill. has adopted this name and genus. PASSERINlE. 277 India produces some species tolerably similar to the prece. ding,( I) but we must particularly distinguish from among that number the Oriolus regens, Col. 320-Sericula regena, Less. which is of the finest silky black, with beautiful orange yellow, velvet feathers on the head and neck, and a large spot of the same colour on the wing.(2) GYMNOPs, Cuv. The same strong beak as the Orioles; the nostrils round, without scales or surrounding membrane; a great part of the head naked.(3) Some of them have prominences on the beak.( 4) In these the tongue is pencillated as in Philedon. MlEURA, Shaw. These Birds, whose size has induced some authors to refer them to the Gallinacere, by the separation of their toes, (the first joint of the external and middle ones excepted,) evidently belong to the order of the Passerinre, and approach the Thrushes in their beak, which is triangular at base, elongated, slightly compressed, and emarginate near the point. The membranous nostrils are large, and partly covered over by feathers, as in the Jays. They are distinguished by the great tail of the male, which is very remarkable for the three sorts of feathers which compose it, viz. the twelve common ones with very fine and widely separated barbs; two more in the middle only one side of which is furnished with thickly set barbs, and two external ones curved into the figure of an S, or like the arms of a lyre, whose internal barbs, large and thickly set, form a kind of broad riband, while those that are external are very short, becoming ~1) Oriolus chinensis, J<~nl. 570;-0r. melanocephalus, Enl. 79, or Lmiot rieur, ;•~II. Afr. 263;-the Lmot d'w, Vaill., 260; Vieill. Gal. 83;-the Coudougnan, ll!l., 2, 61;-the Oriolus xanthonotua, Horsf. Jav. b'(2) M. Lesson (Voy. Duperr., pl. xx,) gives as its female, a Thrush-coloured Ird which differs considerably in its proportions. (3) .. The Goulingris (Gracula calva, Gm.), Enl. 200;-the Goulin vert (Mino Du~~ Less.), Voy. de Duperr., pl. xxv;-the Goulinolive (Graculacyanotia, Lath.; ~-vpB cyanotis, Shaw). J4l The Corbicalao, Vaill., Ois. d' Am. et des Jndes, pl. xxiv (Merops corniculatua, 1 th. and Shaw,) and a neighbouring species whose larger tubercle is directed :Oe~arrds the front (Mer. monacltus, Lath.). These two New-Holland birds are Horn-bills nor Bee-eaters, for their external toes are not more united those of the most common Passerinre. ~·-~· The Or. regens is the Melliphaga regia of Lewin and the Sericulus chrysottp, IIUUB of Swainson. The Corb 1•c a lao fio rms the genus TnopxnonHYNcuus of Swa.m son. |