106 £IRD OAtLE&T. 



cream-coloured, and in some species heavily spotted towards the larger 

 end. 



To the subfamily Calyptomenirue belong three beautiful species with 

 the nostrils hidden by the erect frontal plumes and the plumage mostly 

 vivid green. All three are represented in the Case ; Calyptomena white- 

 headi (1559), the largest, and C. hosei (1560), with its bright blue 

 breast, l)oth very rare birds, being peculiar to the highlands of Borneo, 

 while the smaller C. viridis (1561), a pair of which are mounted 

 with their nest, is more widely distributed in the Indo- Malayan 

 region. 



The second subfamily, EurylcemiruB, includes a number of handsome 

 forms, such as llorsfield's Broad-bill {Eurylcemus javanicus) (1563), 

 the Long-tailed Broad-bill [Psarisomus dalhousice) (1566), and the 

 sombre-coloured Dusky Broad-bill {Corydon sumatranus) (1567), with 

 its remarkably wide flattened bill like that of a Frog-mouth. The 

 Black-and-Red Broad-bill {Cymborhynchus macrorhynchus) (1565) is 

 shown with its large globular nest made of grass. 



Order XXX. MENURIFORMES. 



The remarkable Australian forms constituting this Order have usually 

 been associated with the Passeres, but differ in various anatomical points 

 and the nestling is covered with dense down. Only one family is 

 known. 



Family Menurid*. Lyre-Birds. (Plate XXIII. fig. 1.) 



[Case 67.] The three large species of Menura (1568) included in this family are 

 all natives of Australia and inhabit the precipitous rocky gullies in 

 thick forests with tangled undergrowth, feeding on moUusca, worms, 

 beetles, and other insects. They are remarkable for their immensely 

 developed legs and feet, with long, stout, slightly curved claws, with 

 w hich they scratch up the soil like Game-birds in search of insects, and 

 for the extraordinary shape and structure of the tail-feathers in the 

 male, the outer pair being curved like a lyre. In the female the tail is. 

 long and normally shaped, The natural cry is a loud liquid gurgling 

 sound, but these birds also possess great powers of reproducing the song 

 and calls of other birds and animals, or aay other sound they may hear. 

 The oval domed nest (1569), placed sometimes on the ground, some- 

 times on trees, contains one large egg, blotched and marked with purplish- 

 brown. 



