136 EXTRAORDINARY BIRDS. 



*vhlle others are not above three. The beards that adorn the ftem or fliaft 

 are, froui about halfway to the end, very long, and as thick as an horfe- 

 hair, without being ftibdividcd. The ftem or fhaft is flat, (hining, blacky 

 and knotted bciow, and from each knot proceeds a beard; likewife, the 

 beards at the end of the large feathers are perfedly black, and towards 

 the root of a grey tawny colour j fhorter, more foft, and throwing 

 cut fine fibres, like down ; fo that nothing appears except the ends, 

 which are hard and black ; becaufe the other part, compofed of down, 

 js quite covered. There are feathers on the head and neck; but they arc 

 io Ihort, and thinly fown, that the bird's fkin appears naked, except to- 

 ward the hinder part of the head, where they are a little longer. The 

 wings, when deprived of their feathers, are but three inches long; their 

 feathers are like thofe on the body. The ends of the wings have five or 

 more prickles, of different lengths and thicknefs, which bend like a bow : 

 hollow throughout, having only that flight fubftance within which ali 

 quills have. The longeft of thcfe prickles is eleven inches j a quarter 

 of an inch in diameter at the root, being thicker there than tovyard? the 

 extremity ; the point feems broken off. 



The part nnoft remarkable is the head; it is bare, and in a manner 

 armed with an helmet of horny fubftance, that covers it from the root of 

 the bill to near half the head backwards. This helmet is black before, 

 and yellow behind. Its fubftance is yery h^rd, being formed by the ele- 

 vation of the bone of the fl<:ull ; and it coniifts of feveral plates, one over 

 another, like the horn of an ox. The eye is ^ bright yellow^ and t\\c 

 globe, being above an inch and an half in diameter, gives it an air fierce 

 and extraordinary. At the bottom of the upper eye-lid is a row of fmaii 

 hairs, over which is another row of black hair, which looks pretty 

 much like an eye-brow. The lower eye-lid, which i§ the largeft, is 

 furniftied alfo with plenty of black hair. The hole of the ear is 

 large, open, and uncovered, furrounded with fmall black hairs. The 

 iides of the head, about the eye and ear, having only a few hairs of 

 covering, are blue, except the middle of the lower eye-lid, which is 

 white. The part of the bill which anfwers to the upper jaw in other 

 animals, is very hard at the edges above, and the extremity of it like 

 that of a turkey-cock. The end of the lower mandible is flightly notched, 

 and the whole is of a greyifli brown, except a green fpot on each fide. 

 As the beak admits a very wide opening, this contributes not a little tQ 

 the bird's menacing appearance; the tongue an inch long. The neck is 

 of a violet colour, inclining to that of (late; is red behind in evera^ 



i bees, 



