135 



CRACID^E. 



CRAG. 



188 



scales, and 20 lines in length ; middle toe, including the claw, 1 7 lines ; 

 hind toe 1 4 lines ; posterior claw 7 lines. Bill slightly swollen towards 

 its extremity, yellow, 8 lines in length. Nostrils suboval, covered 

 with a membrane clothed with very small rudimentary feathers. 

 Space round the eyes naked, but less than in the other two species. 

 Neck well clothed with feathers. Iris reddish. A very thick crest 

 covers the head ; the feathers which compose it are raised (se redres- 

 sent) towards the occiput. The wings are concave, an inch longer 

 than the tail, and terminated in a point : the fifth quill the longest. 

 Tail suboval, pointed, very short, composed of 10 small feathers. 

 Legs grayish, and feathered down to the tarsi ; the claws slightly 

 curved, pointed at the end, flat below, and of a brown colour. 

 (Lesson.) 



Mnngoipe (Mitgnpodiut Buprrrfyii). 



" The tuft," says M. Lesson, "of our M, Lhtperreyii is of a brown- 

 yellow ; the neck, the throat, the belly, and the lateral parts, are of 

 a gray-slate colour. The feathers of the back and the wing-coverts 

 large, and of a ruddy yellowish-brown. Rump, upper part of the 

 tail, and vent-feathers, ochreous red. Quills yellow without, brown 

 within, the shafts being ruddy brown. 



" The middle toe is united to the inner one by a membranous 

 border, which is wanting between the middle toe and the external one. 



" In comparing our Megapodius with the Menura of New Holland, 

 we cannot fail to perceive that it connects the last-mentioned genus 

 with the gallinaceous birds, by forming a very natural passage. In 

 fact, if we examine the position of the nostrils, the general form of 

 the bill and legs, and the nakedness round the eyes the membrane 

 which unites the two external toes, but which is wanting between the 

 middle toe and the inner one (an arrangement which is reversed in 

 Meyapodiut) the same length of the toes, the analogy in the form 

 of the claws, the greater length of the posterior one, the concavity^ 

 and the smallness of the wings all these characters, in fine, coincide' 

 to confirm this pass-age, if we except the extraordinary grandeur and 

 luxuriant form of the tail of Menura, a form without analogy among 

 the other birds. Meyapodiui would thus belong to a small natural 

 group, theLyrifcri of Vieillot (27th family) ; the name of which, in con- 

 sequence of its having become improper, would have to be changed. 



" The M. Duperreyii, the Hangoipe of the Papuans, inhabits the 

 umbrageous forests of New Guinea, in the neighbourhood of the 

 harbour of DonSry. The bird is timid, runs very fast among the 

 bushes, like a partridge in standing corn, and utters a feeble cluck 

 (un petit gloussement)." 



M. Lesson states that he only observed M. Preycinetii in the 

 I.tliniH of Waigiou, and that the attempt to preserve it alive in 

 cages was vain, for the birds soon died. Their flesh, he says, is 

 black, very hard, and not very agreeable as food, although possessing 

 a fumet which the cooking developes. The Papuans brought them 

 on board the Coquille daily, and called them (those of the harbour 

 of Offack at least) Manesaqud. 



IVjth Pigafetta and Oemelli Carreri speak of the Tavon (Mcya- 

 podiut), and it would seem that this, the Megapodiut of the Philip- 

 pines, leaves ita eggs to the fostering heat of the sun. The habits of 

 the Megapodii of New Guinea and the neighbouring islands are, 

 according to M. Lesson, entirely unknown. 



Alecthelia. The characters of the genus Megapodiua, observes M. 

 Lesson, established by Messrs. Quoy and Gaimard in the Zoology of the 

 voyage round the world performed by the Uranie, are in great 



measure applicable to the sub-genus Alecthelia, formed by M. Lesson 

 for the position of a bird which differs from the true Megapodii, or 

 Tavons, by many distinctive characters. 



Bill short, compressed, pointed : the upper mandible prolonged, 

 the lower mandible a little swollen and very short ; nostrils at the 

 base of the bill separated by a straight ridge ; head and forehead 

 abundantly covered with feathers down to the nostrils ; space round 

 the eyes furnished with short and close-set feathers ; inner toe rather 

 the shortest ; membrane which unites the middle toe to the inner 

 one almost absent ; no tail ; all the feathers of the body, except 

 those of the wings, composed of loose barbs, very finely ciliated on 

 each of the shafts. 



A. Urvillii, Lesson. It is the only species known. Its total length 

 from the extremity of the bill to that of the wings is 5 inches 4 lines. 

 Tarsi 14 lines ; middle toe 10, hind toe 8, claws 5, bill 6 lines (French). 

 The bird is covered with loose and scanty feathers, but has upon the 

 occiput a thick bunch of feathers. The general tint is brown, 

 fuliginous, deepest above; belly and throat brown, slightly tinged 

 with ruddy colour ; throat ash-coloured ; wings concave, rounded, 

 the feathers entirely brown, the second, third, and fourth being 

 equal : the upper part is bron n sprinkled with zigzag or irregular 

 lines, not well defined, of ruddy yellow. Place of the tail-feathers 

 supplied by very loose plumes, composed of very fine barbs, bristled 

 with very slender approximated barbules, presenting much analogy 

 with those of the Cassowary (No. 6, pi. 67, 'Atlas de Peron"), and 

 which, implanted in the rump in the same manner, form a feathery 

 tuft as in the Cassowary ; all the feathers of this bird, except those 

 of the wings, are composed of multiple stems, very slender and soft, 

 furnished with equal and very fine barbules which may be called 

 multirachid. The bill is grayish, and so are the feet ; the inner toe 

 is a little more united to the middle one than to the external one ; 

 the claws are slightly curved, sharp, convex above, concave below, 

 and of a brown colour; the iris is reddish. 



Alecthelia L'rMlii. 



This species, which comes from the Isle of Gueb<!, placed imme- 

 diately under the equator, is, no doubt, proper to the neighbouring 

 lands such as the great and beautiful Isle of Halamiva or Golilo, so 

 little known and so little studied by naturalists. (Lesson.) 



CRAG, the uppermost of the distinctly Tertiary Strata of England 

 using this term in a sense which is perhaps gradually passing 

 away, to be replaced by the larger meaning of Cainozoic, suggested 

 in this work. The Crag of Norfolk and Suffolk is partly a calcareous 

 mass rich in delicate corals ; partly a subcalcareous sand rich in 

 shells ; and partly a rudely aggregated deposit of sand, shells, pebbles, 

 and bones. To these divisions, whose origin is due to different local 

 conditions, and successive times, Mr. Charlesworth has assigned the 

 titles of Coralline Crag, Red Crag, and Mammaliferous Crag. The 

 position of these beds will be best seen from the following table of 

 the classification of the Tertiary Rocks from Professor Ansted's 

 ' Elementary Geology." 



Newer Tertiary, or Pliocene Series : 



1. Upper Gravel and Sand. 



2. Till. 



3. Mammaliferoui Crag. 



4. Fresh- Water Sand and Gravel. 



5. Red Crag. 



Middle Tertiary, or Miocene Series : 



6. Coralline Crag. 



Lower Tertiary, or Eocene Series : 



7. Fluvio-Marine Beds, Ac. 



