170 ON OPISTHOCOMUS CRTSTATUS. 



seen these birds every day for the last six years , I have 

 never seen them extend their flight beyond twenty or thirty 

 yards at one time , and never once saw them on the ground. 

 This inactivity is not the result of inability , for their wings 

 are well developed , and their legs and feet are strong. 

 They never leave the river side , and their food is the lea- 

 ves and seeds of this „pimpler" and of a plant that grows 

 in the water , a kind of gigantic cuckoo pint , called at 

 home „lords and ladies", in this country called »Mucca- 

 Mucca" {Caladium arborescens). I may mention in passing 

 that there is not a puddle of water in the Colony in which 

 this Caladium is not found, and Dreponocarpus lunatus 

 fringes every river and creek in the country. 



In the middle of March and beginning of April they 

 make a flat nest, like that of a sparrow hawk on the top 

 of the low shrubs by placing a few dry sticks together , 

 but so loosely united that one can , when under them , 

 see if they contain eggs or young, by simply looking 

 up through them. They lay two, sometimes three, whitish 

 eggs , spotted all over with light and dark rusty coloured 

 spots, commencing with a blotch at the larger end. The 

 egg is about the size of a small hen-egg. 



The young is covered with a light coat of dark brown 

 down. The eyes, bill, feet, claws of feet, and claws on 

 thumb and tip of finger are a dark blue-brown. 



The bill is short , thick and conical like that of a spar- 

 row , with a slight bend in the upper mandible. The legs 

 are strong , with large strong toes , three directed forwards 

 and one backwards , and have well developed claws. In 

 the wing the fore-arm is larger than the arm , and the 

 hand is larger than the fore-arm. The thumb is long and 

 well developed , and has a long well developed claw ; the 

 point of the wing is developed into a finger, tipped with 

 a claw equal in size to that of the thumb; both the thumb 

 and finger have the power of ab- and ad- duction. As soon 

 as the young escape from the egg they creep about with 

 the assistance of these hands, stretching out their wings 



Notes froin tlie Leyden iMuseiam, "Vol. X. 



