This Family occupies almost all the Old World, but not America proper, though Sturnus vulgaris has strayed to Greenland; the headquarters lie in the Indian and Ethiopian Regions, wherein several forms have a very restricted distribution. Instances of this are Charitornis of the Sula Islands, Scissirostrum, Enodes, and Streptocitta of Celebes, Hagiopsar of the Dead Sea and Sinaitic districts, Hartlaubius and Falculia of Madagascar, Sarcops of the Philippines, Mino of Papuasia, Melanopyrrhus and Macruropsar of New Guinea and its islands, Aplonis of the Pacific and the Tenimber group. Fregilupus, of which only a few examples exist in collections, was confined to Réunion, Necropsar is an extinct form from Rodriguez. Calornis alone inhabits Australia.
Lamprotornis, Spodiopsar, and the Eulabetidae in general, rarely leave the trees they haunt; on the other hand, some forms, as our Starling, spend much time upon the ground, or roost in huge flocks on shrubs, reeds, and the like. The habits are wary, and seldom as sociable as those of our British species, hills being often preferred to more wooded districts or the neighbourhood of houses. Aethiopsar reaches an altitude of seven thousand feet. The flight is strong, straight, and rapid, though heavier in Buphaga; while flocks of Starlings turn, sweep along, and gyrate in remarkable fashion, and soaring is not uncommon. The more terrestrial forms walk and run excellently, often stopping suddenly to probe the soil for worms or larvae, which, with insects generally, and molluscs, provide the chief sustenance. A large amount of fruit is also consumed, including berries and seeds; frogs and, as some say, callow nestlings are also devoured; Pastor, Dilophus, and Acridotheres destroy locusts; Eulabes and its allies prefer vegetable food; Buphaga is termed Ox-pecker or Rhinoceros-bird, from clearing ticks off those animals. Certain species disgorge nutriment for their young. The voice is commonly varied and pleasing, becoming a rich song in Eulabes; but most forms whistle, chatter, or utter harsh sounds; and many are extraordinary mimics, or even talk, like the Starling and the Myna, under tuition. By the more typical forms a rough nest of straw, twigs, rags, wool, or feathers is placed in holes in trees, walls, or banks; under eaves; in burrows or stone-heaps: from four to seven uniform light blue or whitish eggs being deposited. Sturnopastor, alone or in societies, affixes a huge structure to the outer branches of trees or bushes; Dilophus makes a neater cup in similar situations; Calornis, which usually forms colonies, suspends from the boughs a bulky bottle-shaped structure with a side-entrance, and so forth. Even our Starling at times builds an open nest. The Eulabetidae generally lay spotted eggs, Dilophus occasionally; Calornis has them greenish with reddish-brown marks.
Fam. XXV. Drepanididae.–According to the latest views, namely those of Dr. Gadow,[[302]] this group contains only the curious forms below, which are all peculiar to the Sandwich Islands. In most of them the semi-tubular tongue is dorsally frayed out into a single brush, but in several thick-billed species it is but slightly tubular, and is split or frayed. The non-serrated beak varies greatly, being elongated and arched in Vestiaria; very long and curved with projecting maxilla in Drepanis and Hemignathus; and similar, but with the upcurved or straight mandible only about half as long as the maxilla in Heterorhynchus. In Himatione, Oreomyza, Loxops, Palmeria, Ciridops, and Chrysomitridops it is much shorter and little decurved; in Psittacirostra, Loxioïdes, Chloridops, and Rhodacanthis it is stout, Finch-like, and hooked, being enormously developed in the last two; in the extraordinary Pseudonestor it is Parrot-like. In Loxops the mandible is twisted indifferently to either side, possibly by constant use. Over the nostrils an operculum is often present; but bristles of all kinds are absent. The scutes of the moderate metatarsus shew a tendency to fusion; the wings are of medium length, with a hardly visible outer primary. The tail is rather short and nearly square, having pointed rectrices in Vestiaria and Drepanis; and exhibits a tendency to forking. Fluffy feathering constantly characterizes the back, flanks, or axillary region. There is a more or less decided crop, as in many Finches. In some species the females appear to have shorter bills.
Fig. 133.–Mamo. Drepanis pacifica. × ½. (After Wilson and Evans, Aves Hawaiienses.)
Drepanis pacifica is black, with golden rump, upper and under tail-coverts, tibiae, and bend of wing, a little white shewing on the wings and tail; D. funerea is almost entirely black. Vestiaria coccinea is vermilion, with black remiges and rectrices, and some white on the wing-coverts; the bill and feet being red. Hemignathus and Heterorhynchus are greenish-olive above, with black lores, brownish remiges, and usually yellowish or creamy lower surface; but the head is occasionally yellow. Palmeria dolii has blackish plumage with scarlet or orange tips, a brilliant scarlet-orange nape, an orange space round the eye, similarly coloured tibiae, a grey throat, and a dirty white crest curving over the culmen. Himatione is generally yellow-green, with browner wings, yellow under parts, and sometimes black lores; the very closely allied Oreomyza may be duller or greyer, with buff and white below. H. sanguinea is crimson, with black and red wings, and black tail. Loxops, which in one species is dimorphic, is scarlet or orange, with brown on the remiges and rectrices; Chrysomitridops is yellowish-olive, with yellow crown and lower surface, black on the wings and tail, and bluish bill. Psittacirostra is greenish with yellow head; Rhodacanthis is reddish-orange with browner back, or in one case yellow head, while the female is green. Ciridops is red, with black throat, tail, and most of the wings, grey nape and cheeks; it approaches Cyanospiza ciris (p. [585]) in colour.
Hens are ordinarily duller (often brownish or green), except in Vestiaria and Himatione sanguinea; the young are greenish-yellow relieved by black in Vestiaria, brown and buff in Palmeria and Himatione sanguinea, and assume the red or orange gradually.
These forms now chiefly haunt high damp hill-forests, though Vestiaria still occurs near the coast; they fly comparatively little, but spend much of their time creeping quietly and rapidly over the trunks and branches of acacia, "ohia," "mamane," and other trees, where they hunt for insects below the bark or on the leaves. None habitually seek the ground. The long-billed species delight in probing the decayed wood, and insert their mandibles into the crevices in search of food, which consists partly of lepidopterous larvae and spiders. Fruit is largely eaten, pods being split to obtain seeds, and honey is sucked either for its own sake or for the insects it attracts. The stomach at times contains grit. Most forms have a sweet song, the call-note being a reiterated "tweet" or metallic chirp; Rhodacanthis, moreover, whistles. Himatione virens makes a nest of roots and decayed leaves in trees, Loxops aurea apparently does the same; the former lays whitish eggs freckled and streaked with purplish-brown, but little is known of the reproduction. The splendid feather-cloaks of the Hawaiian kings, the "leis" (wreaths), waist-bands, and mask-decorations, were of old chiefly composed of the plumage of the "Mamo" (Drepanis pacifica), and the Iiwi (Vestiaria coccinea); but when the former became scarce, the lighter yellow tufts (p. [565]) of the O-o (Acrulocercus) were utilized to pay the feather tax, though the cloaks were still called "Mamo." Himatione sanguinea was also laid under contribution, as was in later times the domestic cock.
Fam. XXVI. Meliphagidae.–The Honey-eaters, seldom bigger than a Thrush, are remarkable for their extensile quadruple or multiple tongue, which is frayed out latero-dorsally. They occupy the Australian Region, from which Ptilotis limbata alone crosses Wallace's line (p. [16]) to Bali, and often have very restricted ranges. Two Sub-families may be recognised, Myzomelinae and Meliphaginae. The thin curved bill is commonly long, with prominent culmen and wide base; Melithreptes and Plectrorhynchus, however, have it short, and the latter straight. The maxilla is nearly always notched and serrated, several species of Philemon exhibiting a basal protuberance. The metatarsi may be long, as in Acrulocercus, or abbreviated as in Manorhina, the short anterior toes being partially connected; the wings are variable in length, Melithreptes possessing comparatively small secondaries, Anthornis an abruptly narrowed second primary. The tail also varies in size; it is much rounded in Melidectes and Meliphaga, square in Acanthorhynchus, emarginated in Anthornis, and particularly long and graduated with pointed rectrices in Acrulocercus and Chaetoptila–A. nobilis having the median pair produced and spirally twisted, A. apicalis the ends upturned. Pogonornis has strong rictal bristles.
The Myzomelinae are usually habited in scarlet and black, as in the Soldier-bird of Australia (Myzomela sanguinolenta), with or without white or yellowish below; some, however, are chiefly or entirely olive or greyish-brown, while the females generally differ from the males, and the former occasionally shew red when the latter do not. A second genus, Acanthorhynchus, or Cobbler's Awl, is brown, chestnut, buff, black, and white. In the Meliphaginae the sexes are commonly alike, and exhibit a mixture of brown, olive, yellow, black, white, grey, rufous, and buff; the under parts frequently, and the upper rarely, being streaked or spotted. Metallic hues are rare, but Anthornis has a purplish gloss on the head. Leptornis, Entomyza, Philemon, Melitograis, and Pycnopygius are instances of dusky or olive coloration with lighter lower surface; Prosthemadera and Certhionyx leucomelas are black and white; Plectrorhynchus is brown and white; Meliphaga is yellow and black, spotted and barred below. The Hawaiian Acrulocercus is black or brownish, with a little white on the wings or tail, and possesses yellow axillary tufts and under tail-coverts, save in A. braccatus, where the tufts are grey-buff, the tibiae are yellow, the throat is barred with white, and the lower parts are streaky. A. bishopi has yellow ear-tufts. Their close ally, Chaetoptila, of the same islands, is light brown and yellowish above, with white spots, and a black cheek-stripe; the under surface being white with brown streaks, and the rump and flanks ochreous. The neck- and breast-plumage is lanceolate and decomposed. Many species of Ptilotis have white or yellow ear-tufts; the male of Pogonornis possesses white erectile post-ocular feathers; that of Prosthemadera two gular patches of curled white filamentary plumes, which give it the name of Parson-bird, as well as pointed white feathers curving forward from the sides of the neck. In two members of Meliornis white fan-like shields spring from the cheeks; Glycyphila albifrons has a white circum-ocular ring; while many forms have peculiar cheek-feathers, fluffy chests, rumps or sides, and lanceolate or bristly plumage on the neck, cheeks, or throat. Naked blue, green, scarlet, yellow, lilac, pink, or whitish areas on the head, and pendant rictal or facial wattles, are frequent, especially in Meliphaga, Ptilotis, Entomyza, Philemon, Melidectes, Acanthochaera (Wattle-bird) and Melirrhophetes. The bill and feet vary from black to red, yellow, blue, or green.