13 



ANORTHURA. WREN. 



Bill of ordinary length or rather long, slender, tapering, 

 acute, slightly arched, subtrigonal at the base, compressed 

 towards the end : upper mandible with its dorsal outline 

 slightly arched, the ridge narrow, obtuse, the sides sloping at 

 the base, towards the end slightly convex and erect, the edges 

 sharp, direct, and overlapping, without notch ; lower mandible 

 with the angle narrow and rather acute, the dorsal outline 

 straight, the back narrow, the sides convex, the edges sharp 

 and inflected, the tip very narrow ; the gape-line very slightly 

 arched. 



The upper mandible within is concave, with a central pro- 

 minent line ; the lower deej)ly channelled. The tongue sagit- 

 tate, very slender, tapering, concave above, slightly jagged 

 towards the tip. The oesophagus of moderate width, without 

 dilatation ; the stomach roundish, very muscular, with a dense 

 longitudinally rugous epithelium ; the intestine short and rather 

 wide, the cceca very small. Plate XIV, Fig. 1. 



Nostrils linear-oblong, wider at the proximal extremity, ex- 

 posed, with an oblong operculum ; the nasal depression rather 

 large, narrow, feathered at the base. Eyes of moderate size ; 

 eyelids feathered. External aperture of ear large, roundish. 



The general form is full and short, the body ovate, the neck 

 short, the head ovate and of moderate size, the wings and tail 

 short ; the feet of ordinary length ; the tarsus compressed, an- 

 teriorly covered with seven scutella, of which the upper are 

 indistinct, posteriorly edged ; toes rather large, compressed ; 

 first large, and longer than the two lateral, of which the inner 

 is a little shorter, the third much longer ; the third and fourth 

 coherent as far as the second joint of the latter. Claw^s long, 

 arched, extremely compressed, laterally grooved, acute. 



Plumage soft and blended, the feathers ovate, loose, with a 

 very slender elongated plumule. There arc no bristle-pointed 



