MONK—MONSTROSITIES 587 
whole body, with a gleam of gilded purple on the nape, a snowy- 
white rump and rufous tail, offer a marvellously bright combination 
of colours. Another striking feature is the crest of feathers formed 
almost like those of the common Peacock, and this crest is pos- 
sessed also by the true JL. impeianus. In Assam a third species, 
L. sclateri, is found (Proc. Zool. Soc. 
1870, pl. xiv.; 1879, pl. 1.) crestless, 
and having the tail white with a 
broad reddish bar near the tip ; while 
a fourth, LZ. Phuysi, having a crest of 
ordinary feathers, and a dark glossy 
green tail (op. cit. 1868, pl. i.), in- 
habits Moupin. Other species may 
not unlikely reveal themselves as the 
North-eastern portion of the Indian Region is explored. According 
to Jerdon (op. cit.), one of the Horned Pheasants, Tragopan or 
Ceriornis satyrus, is also called “ Monaul” by Europeans at Darjiling. 
TRAGOPAN SATYRUS. 
(After Swainson.) 
MONK, a name in some parts of England for the cock BULL- 
FINCH, and in Australia one of many applied to the FRIAR-BIRD. 
MONSTROSITIES are naturally more observed in domesticated 
than in wild Birds, and are more commonly cases of excessive 
than of arrested development. The former may be restricted to 
overgrowth of otherwise small parts, such as double feathers, or 
may amount to the addition of a whole limb, or even still greater 
portion of the body. Frequently such supernumerary parts seem 
due to an early splitting of the affected member in the embryo, 
but whether caused by mechanical injury or due to an unusual 
activity of the growing and multiplying cells it is of course in most 
cases Impossible to say. As a rule, such abnormalities are purely 
pathological, and not indicative of ancestral conditions, though cases 
are known in which latent germs have certainly been awakened 
and given rise to organs or parts of organs that in normal individuals 
of the species are either absent or rudimentary. 
Supernumerary toes, as in the Dorking Fowl, are of common 
occurrence. In these cases the additional toe is generally the result 
of the HALLUX being split into two, and not the real fifth toe, which 
was long ago completely lost by the Reptilian ancestors of Birds. 
Three legs are very frequent ; the third limb, which is generally 
smaller and with crippled toes, being attached to the caudal 
vertebrae, to the pelvis, or even to the femur of one of the proper 
legs. Such cases have been many times recorded in the Duck, Fowl, 
Sparrow and other common birds, while Lidbeck long ago described 
(kK. Vetensk. Acad. Handl. 1762, p. 164) an adult Eagle with three 
feet, of which the superfluous foot was placed between the other 
two and bore seven toes. A more recent and somewhat similar 
