" I never faw him any where bm in the conntries where honey is chiefly produced as revenue,
Inch as tlie country of Agow, Goutto, and in BclelTon. He feems to purfue the bees
for vengeance or diverfion as well as for food, as he lea^'es a quantity of them feattered upon
the ground, without feeking farther after them; and this pailime he unweariedly pnrfucs without
niterruption all the day long; for the Abyffinians do not look fo near, or confider things
& much in detail, as to imagine all the watte he commits can make any difFerence in their
revenue.
" His name Maroc is derived from Mar, Honey; though I never heard he was farther
concerned in the honey than in deftroying the bees.
" Jerom Lobo, whom I have often mentioned, defcribes this bird, and attributes to him a
peculiar inftinft, or faculty of difeovering honey. He fays, when this bird has difeovered any
honey, he repairs to the highway, and, when he fees a traveller, claps his wings, f.ngs, and by
a variety of aftions invites him to follow him, and flying from tree to tree before him, Hops
whOT the honey is difcovered to be, and there he begins to fing moil melodioufly. The ingenious
Dr. Sparrmann could not omit an opportunity of building a ftory upon lb fair a foundation.
He too gives an account of a Cnekow in fue and fliape refembling a fparrow, and
then gives a long clefcription of it in Latin, from which it fliould not referable a fparrow. This
he calls Cuculus Indicator. It feems it has a partition treaty at once both with men and foxes,
not a very ordmaiy aflbeiation. T o thefe two partners he makes his meaning equally known by
the alluring found of Teherr, Teherr, which wc may imagine, in the Hottentot language of
birds, may fignify H o n e y ; but it does not fing, it feems, fo melodioufly as Jerom Lobo's bird
I cannot, for my own part, conceive, in a country where fo many tlroufand hives of bees are,
that there was any ufe for giving to a bird a peculiar inftinft or faculty of difeoveiW honey
when at the fame time Nature had denied him the power of availing himfelf of any advantag^
from the difcovery; for Man feems, in this cafe, to be made for the fervice of Moroc, which
IS veiy different f rom the common courfe of things. Man certainly needs him not, for on every
tree, and on every hillock, he may fee plenty of combs at his own deliberate difpofal. I cannot
then but think, with all fubmiffion to thefe natural philofophers, that the whole of this is
an improbable fiftion; nor did I ever hear a Angle perfbn in Abyflinia fuggeft that either this
or .any odter bird had fuch a property. Sparrmann fays it was not known to any inhabitant
of the Cape, no more than that of Moroc was in Abyflinia; it was a fecret of Nature hid
from all but thefe two great men, and I moft willingly leave it among the catalogue of'their
particular clifcoverics."
^ Thus far Mr. Brucc. If however the birds defcribed by the two travellers flionld prove
different fpeeies, (which I think not at all improbable) the account given by Dr. Sparrmann
wil remain unafl^efted by Mr . Bruee's fatire. Mr. Brnee's defcription of his own bird is as
follows, and from it the reader will be enabled to judge whether it be intended for the fimie
fpecies with that defcribed by Dr . Sparrmann.
" The opening of the mouth is veiy wide when forced open, reaching to under the eyes •
the infide of his mouth and throat are yellow; his tongue flrarp-pointed: it can be drawn to
almoft half its length out of his mouth beyond the point of its beak, and is very flexible.
Its head and neck are brown, without mixture. It has a number of exceeding fmall hairs,
fcareely vifible, at the root of his beak. His eyebrows are black likewife. His beak is pointed,
and very litde crooked: the pupil of the eye is black, furrounded with an iris of a dulky dull
49
red. The fore-part of his neck Is light-yellow, darker on each iide than in the middle, where
it is partly white; the yellow on each fide reaches near the flioulder, or round part of the wing:
from this his whole breaft and belly is of a dirty white to under the tail ; from this too his
feathers begin to be tipped gently with white, as are all thoie that cover the outfide of his wing ;
but the white here is clear, and the fize increafes with the breadth and length of the feathers.
T h e large feathers of the wings are eight in number, the fécond in fize are fix ; the tail confifts
of twelve feathers; the longeft three are in the middle; they are clofely placed together, and
the tail is of an equal breadth from top to bottom, and the end of it tipt with white. Its
thighs are covered with feathers of the fame colour as the belly, which reach more than half
way down his leg. His legs and feet are black, marked diftinflly with fcales. He has two
toes before and one behind, each of which have a iharp and crooked claw. I never faw his
neft; but in flying, and while fitting, he perfeftly refembles the Cuckow. I never heard, nor
could I learn from odiers, that he has any voice or fong. He makes a fliarp fnapping noife as
often as he catches the bees, which is plainly from clofing his beak."
From the above defcription of Mr. Bruce's bird, it fhould feem, (notwith(landing its general
appearance) to belong rather to the genus Merops than to that of Cuculus. It muil alfo be
confidered as a very anomalous fpecies, from the circumftance of having only two toes before
and one behind. In its general figure it ieems greatly to refemble the Cuculus fplendidus, or
Shining Cuckow, of Mr. Latham.
? il