MOROC.
I have already said in the introduction which immediately precedes the history of birds, that among those that live upon insects there are some that attach themselves to flies in general, and others that seem to live upon bees alone: Of this last sort is the bird now before us. I never saw him in the low country where the fly is, nor indeed anywhere but in the countries where honey is chiefly produced as revenue, such as the country of the Agow, Goutto, and in Belessen.
Bee Cuckoo
London Publish’d Jan.y 19.th 1790 by G. Robinson & Co.
He seems to pursue the bees for vengeance or diversion as well as for food, as he leaves a quantity of them scattered dead upon the ground without seeking further after them, and this pastime he unweariedly pursues without interruption all the day long; for the Abyssinians do not look so near, or consider things so much in detail, as to imagine all the waste which he commits can make any difference in their revenue.
His name is Maroc, or Moroc, I suppose from Mar, honey, though I never heard he was further concerned in the honey than destroying the bees. In shape and size he seems to be a cuckoo, but differs from him in other respects. He is drawn here of his natural size, and in all respects so minutely attended to, that I scarcely believe there is a feather amissing.
The opening of his mouth is very wide when forced open, reaching nearly to under his eyes. The inside of his mouth and throat are yellow, his tongue sharp-pointed. It can be drawn to almost half its length out of its 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 small hairs, scarcely visible at the root of his beak. His eye-brows are black likewise. His beak is pointed, and very little crooked; the pupil of his eye is black, surrounded with an iris of a dusky dull red. The fore part of his neck is light-yellow, darker on each side than in the middle, where it is partly white; the yellow on each side reaches near the shoulder, or round part of the wing; from this his whole bread and belly is of a dirty white to under the tail; from this, too, his feathers begin to be tipt gently with white, as are all those that cover the outside of his wing; but the white here is clear, and the size increases with the breadth and length of the feathers. The large feathers of his wing are eight in number, the second in size are six. The tail consists of twelve feathers; the longest three are in the middle, they are closely placed together, and the tail is of an equal breadth from top to bottom, and the end of the feathers tipt with white. Its thighs are covered with feathers of the same colour as the belly, which reach more than half way down his leg; his legs and feet are black, marked distinctly with scales. He has two toes before and one behind, each of which have a sharp and crooked claw. I never saw his nest; but in flying, and while sitting, he perfectly resembles the cuckoo. I never heard, nor could I learn from any others, that he had any voice or song. He makes a sharp, snapping noise, as often as he catches the bees, which is plainly from closing his beak.
Jerome Lobo, whom I have often mentioned, describes this bird, and attributes to him a peculiar instinct, or faculty of discovering honey; he says, when this bird has discovered any honey he repairs to the high-way, and when he sees a traveller, he claps with his wings, sings, and by a variety of actions invites him to follow him, and flying from tree to tree before him, stops where the honey is discovered to be, and there he begins to sing most melodiously.