Zoological Illustrations Volume I Part 3

A richly coloured little bird, much smaller than our Goldfinch, and approaching very near to the _Bouvreuil de Bourbon_ of Buffon, from which, however, I think it quite distinct. The only one I have yet seen is in the possession of E. Falkner, Esq. of Fairfield near Liverpool, who received it with a few other rare birds from the Spanish Main.

Total length four inches. Bill blackish and very sharp. The whole head and forepart of the neck is black. The plumage of the body is a fine reddish-orange, duller on the back and brightest beneath: wing-covers the same; the greater ones at their base black, which forms a bar: the quills are also black, the greater ones having at their base an oblique bar of orange, and some of the lesser ones slightly margined externally with white. Tail divaricated and black; some of the lateral feathers faintly margined with orange. Spurious wings black. Legs and claws brown.

The _Bouvreuil de Bourbon_, and the _B. du Cap de Bonne Esperance_ of Buffon (_Pl. Enl. pl._ 204. _fig._ 1, 2.) appear to have been described as the different s.e.xes of one bird (the Orange Grossbeak of Latham) on mere conjecture. I think them quite distinct, inhabiting different countries, and having all the appearance (in the figures) of being two male birds; for the females in this family seldom possess the rich colours of the male; and the figure of the last of these birds, has not the slightest habit of a female.

The present genus was formed by Cuvier, (though but very slightly defined,) and includes the common Goldfinch and Canary-bird.

Pl. 8

[Ill.u.s.tration]

MEROPS urica.

_Javanese Bee-eater._

GENERIC CHARACTER.

_Rostrum productum, laeve, subcurvatum, compressum; apice acuto, basi trigono; culmine carinato. Pedes brevissimi, gressorii. Alae attenuatae._

Typus Genericus _M. apiaster_. Linn., &c.

Bill lengthened, smooth, slightly curved, terminating in a sharp point; the base triangular, the sides much compressed, the back carinated.

Feet very short, gressorial. Wings pointed.

Generic Type _Merops apiaster_. Linn., &c.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_M. viridis, infra pallidior; capite, collo supra rufo; mento, jugulo, sulphureis; linea temporali et torque colli nigris; tegminibus uropygioque caeruleis; cauda subfurcata._

Green, beneath paler. Head and neck above rufous; chin and throat sulphur; line under the eyes, and collar round the neck, black.

Tail-covers and rump pale blue. Tail slightly forked.

Merops urica. _Horsfield in Linn. Trans._

The true Bee-eaters are confined to the old world, princ.i.p.ally inhabiting Africa and Asia; one species only, the European Bee-eater, being known with any degree of certainty to be found in Europe; and this is occasionally seen in England. They are all gregarious, feeding on the wing, and in general migratory.

Most unwillingly I have again in this instance antic.i.p.ated my friend Dr.

Horsfield in describing this bird, which he found in Java, and which I engraved after one sent from Ceylon, without knowing it had also fallen under his observation.

The figure is less than the natural size, which is nearly that of our European species. Bill an inch and a half long from the gape, and black.

Nostrils small, basal, round, not sulcated, partially defended by inc.u.mbent hairs; at the angle of the mouth is a row of short, stiff bristles; a black line commences from the nostrils, pa.s.ses under the eye, and terminates with the ears. The upper part of the head, neck, and between the wings, rufous.

The rump and upper tail-covers pale blue: the chin and throat sulphur tinged with rufous, where an irregular and narrow collar of black crosses the neck. The remaining under parts yellowish-green. Wings and quills fulvous green, the latter tipt with black, and all the inner shafts more or less rufous: the second quill longest, and the lesser quills and tail-feathers notched at their tips. Tail green, slightly forked; the tips and under side dusky-black, and three inches and a half long. Wings, when closed, four inches one line in length. Vent blueish-white.

The females in this genus may generally be distinguished by the two middle tail-feathers being but slightly or not at all elongated.

Pl. 9

[Ill.u.s.tration]

HELIX auriculata.

_Eared Helix._

GENERIC CHARACTER.

_Testa orbicularis vel globosa. Spira depressa vel paululum elevata.

Apertura integra. Labium exterius marginatum. Operculum nullum._

Sh.e.l.l orbicular or globose. Spire depressed, or but slightly elevated.

Aperture entire. Outer lip margined. Operculum, none.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_H. testa depressissima, ferrugineo-marmorata et bifasciata, umbilico magno, profundo, apertura auriformi; labio exteriore incra.s.sato, margine interiore dente obsoleto._

Sh.e.l.l much depressed, marbled and doubly-banded with ferrugineous.

Umbilicus large, deep. Aperture ear-shaped. Outer lip thickened, reflected, with a gibbous obsolete tooth within.

A sh.e.l.l no less remarkable for its form than its extreme rarity. The mouth bears a most striking resemblance to the human ear; and the only specimen known in this country is the one here figured, from the cabinet of Ch.

Dubois, Esq., who obligingly favoured me with it for examination; neither does the exquisite work on the Land Sh.e.l.ls, by M. de Ferrusac, now publishing at Paris, contain this species among the numerous matchless figures already given of this family.

In the present uncertainty respecting the natural groups of the genus _Helix_, as left by Lamarck, I have preferred for the present following the example of Cuvier and de Ferrusac, in placing it with that family, in preference to adopting the ill-defined and palpably artificial distribution of them by D. de Montfort, or of forming a new genus for its reception.

The variegations in its colouring are better seen in the figures than described. The whole sh.e.l.l is slightly marked with obsolete longitudinal striae; the umbilicus is very deep, and the tooth does not extend externally beyond the margin of the lip.

Pl. 10