WATTLED BEE-EATER. Order II. Pies. Genus XXVI.
The size of this bird is nearly that of a cuckow: length fourteen inches and a half: the bill one inch long, and of nearly the same shape and size as in the Poe Bird; the colour black: the general colour of the plumage is brown, palest on the under parts; most of the feathers are pointed in shape, and have a streak of white down the middle: the fore part of the head, as far as the eyes, is smooth, but the rest of the head appears full, the feathers being longer: from the gape of the bill a broad streak of silvery white passes under the eye, and beneath this, on each side of the throat, hangs a pendulous wattle, about half an inch in length, and of an orange colour: the wings, when closed, reach about one third on the tail, which is about half the length of the bird, and cuneiform in shape: both the quills and tail feathers are of a darker brown than the rest of bird, and have the tips white: the middle of the belly is yellow: the legs are of a pale brown, the hind toe very stout, and the outer toe connected to the middle one as far as the first joint.
The above inhabits New Holland; it was received from Port Jackson, and is no doubt a non-descript species.
Wattled Bee-eater
PSITTACEOUS HORNBILL. Order II. Pies. Genus VIII.
The bird is about the size of a crow: the total length two feet three inches: the bill is large, stout at the base, much curved at the point, and channelled on the sides; the colour pale brown, inclining to yellow near the end: the nostrils are quite at the base, and are surrounded with a red skin, as is the eye also, on the upper part: the head, neck, and under parts of the body are pale blue-grey; the upper parts of the body, wings, and tail, ash colour; and most of the feathers are tipt with dusky black, forming bars of that colour across the wings: the wings, when closed, reach to near three-quarters of the length of the tail: the tail itself is long, and cuneiform, the two middle feathers measuring eleven inches, and the outer one on each side little more than seven; a bar of black crosses the whole near the end, and the tips of all the feathers are white: the legs are short and scaly, and the toes placed two forwards, and two backwards, as in those of the toucan or parrot genus: the colour of legs and claws black.*
[* Mr. Latham, who has been kind enough to give his sentiments on this occasion, is of opinion that this bird does not strictly belong to any of the present established genera. The make indeed is altogether that of an hornbill, and the edges of the mandible are smooth, but the toes being placed two forwards and two backwards, seem to rank it with the Parrots or Toucans; and it has been unlucky that in the specimen from which the description was taken, the tongue was wanting, which might in a great measure have determined the point: but the inducement for placing it with the hornbills has had the greater weight, as not a single species of the toucan tribe has yet been met with in that part of the world.]
This bird was killed at Port Jackson, and we believe it to be hitherto non-descript.