Lastly, the bill of the
Tropidorhynchus is raised into a protuberant keel at the base,
and the Mimeta has the same character, although it is not a
common one in the genus. The result is, that on a superficial
examination the birds are identical, although they leave
important structural differences, and cannot be placed near each
other in any natural arrangement.
In the adjacent island of Ceram we find very distinct species of
both these genera, and, strange to say, these resemble each other
quite as closely as do those of Bouru The Tropidorhynchus
subcornutus is of an earthy brown colour, washed with ochreish
yellow, with bare orbits, dusky: cheeks, and the usual recurved
nape-ruff: The Mimeta forsteni which accompanies it, is
absolutely identical in the tints of every part of the body, and
the details are copied just as minutely as in the former species.
We have two kinds of evidence to tell us which bird in this case
is the model, and which the copy. The honeysuckers are coloured
in a manner which is very general in the whole family to which
they belong, while the orioles seem to have departed from the gay
yellow tints so common among their allies.
