Chambers's encyclopædia; a dictionary of universal knowledge . o fall in drops from one leaf to anotheron to the ground, sometimes falling from trees evenas a copious shower. Different kinds of manna arethe dried honey-dew or saccharine exudation ofcertain plants. See Ma>:na. But very generally,this exudation, as it dries, coats the surface of leavesand branches with a clammy film, to which everj-thing brought by the atmosphere adheres, and onwhich moulds and other small fimgi soon grow,and thus the pores of the plant are clogged andits health is impaired. Gardeners are thereforecareful to
Chambers's encyclopædia; a dictionary of universal knowledge . o fall in drops from one leaf to anotheron to the ground, sometimes falling from trees evenas a copious shower. Different kinds of manna arethe dried honey-dew or saccharine exudation ofcertain plants. See Ma>:na. But very generally,this exudation, as it dries, coats the surface of leavesand branches with a clammy film, to which everj-thing brought by the atmosphere adheres, and onwhich moulds and other small fimgi soon grow,and thus the pores of the plant are clogged andits health is impaired. Gardeners are thereforecareful to wash off honey-dew -with the sjTin^ and lemon plantations sometimes suffergreat injury from the abundance of honey-dew;and it has proved a cause of very great loss in thecoffee-plantations of Ceylon. HONEY-EATEE—HONE YSUC KLE. HONEY-EATER, or HONEY-SUCKER, aname sometimes given to some of the Sun-birds(q. v.), but also the common name of a large familyof birds nearly allied to these and to humming-birds, and peculiar to Australia and the islands of. New Holland Honey Eater [Meliphaga NovaHoUandia). that part of the world. This family, Meliphagidce—of the order Insessores, and tribe Tenuirostres—hasa long curved sharp bill, not so slender as in hum-ming-birds and sun-birds; the tongue terminatesin a pencil of delicate filaments, the better to adaptit for sucking honey fiom flowers, or juices fromfruits. These are a principal part of the food ofthe honey-eaters, but they also devour insects ingreat numbers. They are birds of elegant form,and generally of gay plumage. Most of them havea long and broad tail. They may be observedfluttering and darting among trees and shrubs whenin Ijlossom, and are very abundant in all jiarts ofAustralia. They are extremely vivacious and active,and keep up a continual chattering. One of themost splendid species, Meliphar/a or Ptiloris para-dineus, is called the Rifleman or Iliflo Bird by theAustralian colonists. Another species, Myzan
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1868
