ja¿iyn ■ tflW ftavis. apicibus formant, \mdculum flavajn in KtfrisZ bumeris exiguam W mu 'glumis fcdpularibus Jape teSlam'. Tedtrfoqs infra alam albida, barum Supremte ex albido nigro- que-maculates'. Remiges Primarii 8,- Ri Secrindarii 6; RV Omnes fupra fufci, fubtus cinereo fufck-.; Alvilsegrifeo-fufvce; Cauda cufteiforrfiis, reflricjbus r % ; barum dues intermbdicst longiores angujiiores, fupra, & infra mruginofo-fufc'es:, proxi* mcs dues fuliginofes, margine interiore albicantss Dues utrinque bis proximce albce apice f u f c e e e x t e r iu s ad bafin macula nigra nafqtes : extima utrinque relpquis brpvior, Alba apice, fu fca , mqcula nigra, vix, ulla ad bafin. , A J complicates, cauda partem' quartern attingunt. Longitfjdd ' ab apice Ro/lri, ad extremam Caudes circiter feptem uncias pedis Arir gficani explet. . Roftrum a, bafijuperiore.adapicemfenii- unciale. ,; f,r:i g .p-. I j'jiii'v M I - Since my defcription of t h e cuculus indjcalori'was printed in the Phil. 1 ‘ranf. I have ;feen in Lobo’s Travels to Abyflinia, publiihed by l e G r a n d in 172.8, (a book to which I was referred by M . B . B e r g i u s , - one of the direct torsvof the bank,) and a gentleman o f - exteniiye reading, the following account, which deferves to be quoted here verbatim. •I “ The moroc, .or honey-bird, is furniihed with a peculiar inftindt, or faculty of difcovering honey. They have here multitudes-of various kinds, ionic are tame like ours; and form their combs in h ive s: of the wild ones fome place their honey in hollow trees, others hide it in holes in the ground, which they keep extremely clean, and at the fame time cover fo carefully, that though they are commonly- in the highway, they are feldom found, unlefs by bÿ the moroc1 s afliftance. The honey thus prepared underground, is to the full as good as that which is made in hives : I have only found it a little blacker ; and'cannot help imagining it to be the fame, with that which St. J o h n lived on in th'e wildernefs. When-the moroc has difcover- ed any honey, he repairs immediately to the road-iide, and when he fees a traveller, fings and claps his wings, making many motions to invite him to follow him ; and when he perceives him coming, flies before him from tree to tree, till h e : ’domes to the place where thé bees have ftorefl their treaiure, and then begins to fing melodioufly. The Abyflin takes the honey, without failing to leave part o f it for the bird, to reward him for his information.” There-is good reafon to fuppofe from this paflage, that the moroc of Abyflinia and the bee-cuckoo, which I have defcribed above, are one and the fame bird ; but i f this be the cafe, it ihoüld feem, that Father L o b o himfelf had not been an eye-witnefs o f this Angular kind of chafe, òr elfe that he has not given an accuraté defcription o f it. Neither, indeed, have I ever found the honey which has been made under-ground, blacker than that which comes out of the hives; but on the contrary, full as good as any other honey whatever, that in the defert particularly having a finer flavour than any I ever tailed. Though as delicacies did not greatly abound here, and I was obliged to live chiefly on animal food, I cannot place any great dependence upon the nicenefs o f my tafte "at that time. My Hottentots, and even two of the colonifts, ate likewife the young bees and the honey-comb itfelf, or the neft, looking upon it as the moil delicate part of the whole. The honey Von. II. C ç here M January. S i
27f 72-2
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