494 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



the naked head and neck which are only clad with a few hair-like 

 feathers ; and it is, moreover, furnished with a large yellow wattle. 

 It has bred in the Zoological Gardens of London. A second 

 species, T. Cuvierii, occurs in New Guinea ; and Megocephalon 

 maleo, Temminck, is another bird of the same division found in 

 Celebes. 



The celebrated Lyre-bird of Australia, Menura superba, has so 

 much the aspect of a Megapodine bird, that I cannot help consider- 

 ing it as not far removed from this family. Its extraordinary 

 and unique tail consists of sixteen feathers, a number unknown 

 among the Insessores, not one of which has more than twelve ; 

 its great size compared with that of the minute birds among 

 which it is usually placed by systematists, viz., the Wrens 

 and Warblers ; its strong Gallinaceous legs and feet ; its habit 

 of running with facility, which it always employs in prefer- 

 ence to flight ; — all these combine to remove this bird from the 

 Insessores ; and its geographic relations with the Megapodii must 

 also be taken into account. It is said, however, to build a neat 

 nest on a ledge of rock, to have the power of modulating its 

 voice, and that the young are helpless at birth. If these habits 

 are fully confirmed, I would still prefer placing it as a separate 

 group next the Mef/apodidce, with which it undoubtedly possesses 

 considerable affinities ; and, in the Darwinian theory of transmuta- 

 tion of species, it must have sprung directly from an ambitious 

 Megapode which had desired to raise itself in the scale of 

 Birds. 



Fam. Pteroclid^, Sand-grouse or Rock-grouse. 



Syn. Syrrhaptidce, Blyth. 



Bill somewhat slender and compressed ; wings lengthened and 

 pointed ; tarsus short, more or less plumed ; feet short ; hind toe 

 rudimentary, or wanting ; tail of sixteen feathers. 



This is a very distinct natural family, both in structure and 

 habits, although placed by Gray and others as a sub-family of 

 the TetraonidcB, with which the species only agree in having a 

 feathered tarsus. The bill is slender and nearly straight in some, 

 thicker and more curved in others; the orbits are more or less 



