ious. There are four, which seem to
belong to the _trochili_, or honey-suckers of Linnaeus; one of which is
something larger than a bullfinch; its colour is a fine glossy black, the
rump, vent, and thighs, a deep yellow. It is called by the natives
_hoohoo_. Another is of an exceedingly bright scarlet colour; the
wings black, and edged with white, and the tail black; its native name is
_eeeeve_. A third, which seems to be either a young bird, or a variety
of the foregoing, is variegated with red, brown, and yellow. The fourth is
entirely green, with a tinge of yellow, and is called _akaiearooa_.
There is a species of thrush, with a grey breast, and a small bird of the
flycatcher kind; a rail, with very short wings and no tail, which, on that
account, we named _rallus ecaudatus_. Ravens are found here, but they
are very scarce; their colour is dark-brown, inclining to black, and their
note is different from the European. Here are two small birds, both of one
_genus_, that are very common; one is red, and generally seen about
the cocoa-nut trees, particularly when they are in flower, from whence it
seems to derive great part of its subsistence, the other is green; the
tongues of both are long and ciliated, or fringed at the tip. A bird with a
yellow head, which, from the structure of its beak, we called a parroquet,
is likewise very common. It however by no means belongs to that tribe, but
greatly resembles the _lexia flavicans_, or yellowish cross-bill of
Linnaeus.

Here are also owls, plovers of two sorts, one very like the whistling
plover of Europe; a large white pigeon; a bird with a long tail, whose
colour is black, the vent and feathers under the wing (which is much longer
than is usually seen in the generality of birds, except the birds of
paradise) are yellow; and the common water or darker hen.

Their vegetable productions are nearly the same with the rest of the South
Sea islands. I have before mentioned. that the _tarrow_ root is much
superior to any we had before tasted, and that we attributed this
excellence to the dry method of cultivating it. The bread-fruit trees
thrive here, not in such abundance, but produce double the quantity of
fruit they do on the rich plains of Otaheite. The trees are nearly of the
same height, but the branches begin to strike out from the trunk much
lower, and with greater luxuriance. Their sugar-canes are also of a very
unusual size. One of them was brought to us at Atooi, measur