8 i.ACl! and
Manners.
body is lilvery aih, but beneath grey brown : the wing coverts,,
quills, and tail, are black brown j the lafb three inches and a
half in length : the legs and claws are brown.
In the Cabinet du Roi * are two of thefe; one the fize above,,
with the under parts brown, fpotted with white : the bare fkin of
the head, and the legs, as before: the other lefs,. having the underparts
of the body yellow brown, and the bare (kin of the head,
and end half of the bill, the legs,, and claws, yellow.
Sonner-at brought one from the Philippine Ijles, not unlike this:
it was about twelve inches in le n g th th e bill blackifh: the
feathers furrounding the naked (kin of the head, as well as between
it,down the middle,black: the under parts of the body o f
the fame colour : the wings, tail, and upper parts, grey, lighted
on the rump and neck.
Thefe birds are faid to build their neds in hollows of trees,
efpecially the cocoa-nut tree. They live on fruits; are very voracious,
foon digeding what they eat; infomuch that a vulgar
notion has arifen of their having no circumvolution o f intedines,,
but only one (trait paffage from.the mouth to the anus.
M. Camel, in the Philofiphical Pranfabtions. above quoted, ob—
ferves that it is a.noify chattering bird..
PARADISEGR.
D escription,
Baradifea triftis, Lin. Syjt. i. p. 167. M° 3".
he Merle des Philippines, Brif. orn. ii. p. 278. N° 35. pi,.26. f. is
Le Martin, Buf. oif, iii. p. 423.— PI. enl..219,
rT HIS fpecies is fomewhat bigger than a Blackbird: length:
nine inches and a half. The bill is yellow, and an inch.
Hijl.dts eif. iii. 422,.
and!
e h
and a quarter in length ; in fliape like the lad fpecies: the upper
part of the head is covered with narrow black feathers, not ill re-
fembling thofe of the Bird of Paradife in the fame part: behind
the eyes is a triangular bare fpace of a red colour : the throat,
neck, and upper part of the bread, are blackifh, tinged with
grey: the lower part of the bread, the back, rump, fcapulars,
upper and under wing, and upper tail coverts, chednut brown :
thighs the fame : belly, Tides, and under tail coverts, whitilh ; as
is the edge of the wing : prime quills half white half duflty; fe-
condaries brown : tail deep brown ; the fide feathers tipped with
white: legs yellow.
The female is like the male in plumage.
Inhabits the Philippine Ifiands.
It is a various feeder, fcarce any thing coming amifs to it, and,
like the lad, very gluttonous in its appetite; is ufeful in its wild
date, in freeing the backs of oxen from vermin j has been known,
when kept in a cage, to fwallow a young rat, more than two
inches long, whole, only bruifing it againd the wires to make it
foft. Briffon mentions its being very fond of grafshoppers, and
Buffon relates a curious anecdote on this head. The inhabitants
of the IJle of Bourbon imported a pair of thefe birds, in order to free
them from thefe infefts, with which they were infeded to a great
degree: the attempt fucceeded for a while ; but the inhabitants,
thinking they were otherwife hurtful, profcribed them by edict,
on which the grafshoppers increafed fo fad, that they were obliged
to fend for more; which, with their offspring, foon difpatched
every grafshopper on the ifland. But thefe birds multiplying very
fad, and wanting food, began on other things, fuch as fruits,
grapes, dates, and all kinds o f grain, and even entered dove-houfes
to dedroy the young Pigeons j and are too numerous at this time to
3 N 2 be
F emale.
P lace aka
M an ne rs