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Nearly allied to the genera Trichoglcssus and Lo- 

 riuSy in the form of the bill, the tongue, and feet, 

 is another beautiful group inhabiting the islands of 

 Australia, and characterized by Wagler, in his mo- 

 nograph of the family, under the title of Coriphilus. 

 They feed upon the softer fruits, particularly that of 

 the Musa Paradisiaca, and live amid the foliage 

 of the highest palm-trees. The structure of the 

 tongue in these birds is curious, according to the na- 

 turalists who accompanied Duperney in his " Voy- 

 age autour du Monde:" it is tipped 

 by a kind of crown, formed by a 

 number of long stiff filaments, re- 

 gularly placed, and which M. de 

 Blainville considers as the nervous 

 elongations or papillae of the lingual 

 or gustatory branch, enormously developed. Their 

 voice is weak and sibilous ; and, when alarmed or 

 irritated, they erect the feathers of the hind-head, 

 which are narrow and elongated. The sexes are re- 

 markable for their affection to each other, and direct 

 all their movements in concert. The characters of 

 the genus are : Bill small, the upper mandible with- 

 out a distinct tooth, the cere large and prominent, 

 the under mandible weak, slightly convex. Nostrils 

 open, round, in the basal cere. Tongue papillose 

 near the tip. Head crested. Wings long 1 and 



