252 BIRDS. 



or surrounding membrane ; a great part of the head divested of fea- 

 thers*. 



Some of them have prominences on the billf . In these the tongue is 

 pencillated as in Philedon. 



M^NURA, Shaw. 

 The Lyres, whose size has induced some authors to refer them to 

 the Gallinaceas, evidently belong, by the separation of their toes, (the 

 first joint of the external and middle ones excepted), to the order of the 

 Passerinae, and approach the Thrushes in their bill, which is triangular 

 at the base, elongated, slightly compressed, and emarginate near the point. 

 The membranous nostrils are large, and partly covered over by feathers, 

 as in the Jays. They are distinguished by the great tail of the male, 

 which is very remarkable for the three sorts of feathers which compose it, 

 viz. the twelve common ones very long, with very fine and widely sepa- 

 rated barbs ; two more in the middle, only one side of which is furnished 

 with thickly set barbs, and two external ones curved into the figure of an 

 S, or like the arms of a lyre, whose internal barbs, large and thickly set, 

 form a kind of broad riband, while those that are external are very short, 

 becoming longer only near the tip. The female has only twelve quills of 

 . ordinary structure. 



This singular species, Mcenura lyra, Vieill. Ois. de Par. pi. xiv. 

 XV. and Gal. 192, Sh. Nat. Misc. 577, inhabits the rocky districts 

 of New Holland ; its size is somewhat less than that of the Phea- 

 sant. 



MOTACILLA, Lin. 

 The Warblers form an excessively numerous family, known by the bill, 

 which is straight, slender, and similar to a bodkin. When slightly de- 

 pressed at its base, it approaches that of the Flycatchers; when it is com- 

 pressed, and its point curved a little, it approximates to the straight billed 

 Shrikes. An endeavour has been made to divide them as follows : — 

 Saxicola;};, Bechst. 

 The Mill- clappers have the bill a little depressed, and rather broad at 

 the base, which particularly allies these birds to the last small tribe of 

 the Flycatchers. They are lively, and stand tolerably high. The French 

 species build on the ground, or under it, and feed exclusively on insects. 

 There are three species in France. 



Motacilla rubicola, L. ; Le Traquet, Enl. 678; Naum. 90, 3, 

 1,5. (The Mill-clapper). A small brown bird, with a red breast, 



» The Goulin gris (Gr acula calva, Gm.), Enl. 200 ;— the Goulin vert {Mifio Dii- 

 montii, Less.), Voy. de Duperr., pi. xxv;— the Goulin olive (Gracula cyanotis, Lath.; 

 Merops cyanotis, Shaw). 



f The Corbicalao, Vaill., Ois. d'Am. et des Indes, pi. xxiv. (Merops corniculaius, 

 Lath, and Shaw), and a neighbouring species, whose larger tubercle is directed to- 

 wards the front (Mer. monachus, Lath.) These two New Holland birds are neither 

 Horn-bills nor Bee-eaters, for their external toes are not more united than those of 

 the most common Passerinae. 



N. B. The Or. regens is the Melliphaga regia of Lewin, and the Sericuhts chryso- 

 cephalus of Swainson. 



The Corhicalao forms the genus Tropidorhynchus of Swainson. 



X Vieill. has changed this name to Motteux (iENANTHE). 



