180 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



jacanine birds with short bills, peculiar facial ornament, long wings, short 

 tails, and long toes with very long claws. 



The culmen is short with a notable rhamphotheca, the nostrils pervious and 

 placed before the middle of the mandible in a shallow groove ; no groove present 

 in the lower mandible. At the base of the mandible arises a large leaf-like lappet 

 of bare skin with a thin erect upright comb running up the centre of the head. The 

 wing is long and the primaries are normal in shape ; the first primary is longest ; 

 the tail is short and rounded, of ten feathers only ; the metatarsus long and regularly 

 scutellate in front and behind, the scutes sometimes fusing ; the tibia long and naked 

 and regularly scutellate in front and behind ; the toes are very long, not webbed 

 either internally or externally ; and the claws are longer, quite straight, and tapering 

 to a fine point. The claw of the hind-toe is extraordinarily lengthened, being longer 

 than the hind -toe and the metatarsus. 



125. Irediparra gallinacea. LOTUS BIRD. 



[Parra gallinacea Temminck et Laugier, Planch. Color. d'Ois., 78 e livr. (Vol. IV., pi. 464), 

 . July, 1828 : Celebes. Extra-limital.] 



Gould, Vol. VI., pi. 75 (pt. x.), March 1st, 1843. Mathews, VoL III., pt. 4, pi. 109. Dec 

 31st, 1913. 



Hydrakctor novcehollandice Salvador!, Omit. Pap. e Mol., Vol. III., p. 309, (pref. Dec.) 



1882: New South Wales. 



Irediparra gallinacea rothschildi Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 224, Jan. 31st, 1912 : 



Parry's Creek, North-west Australia. 



Irediparra gallinacea melvittensis Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., pt. 3, p. 73, June 28th, 



1912 : Melville Island, Northern Territory. 



DISTRIBUTION. New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory, North-west Australia. 



Adult male. Hinder crown, hind -neck, and mantle black like the lower back and 

 rump, the feathers tinged with metallic -purple ; back, scapulars, and wings light 

 bronze-brown ; lesser upper wing-coverts round the bend of the wing, bastard-wing, 

 primary -coverts and quills deep black with a metallic-purple tinge ; tail white at 

 the extreme base, the remainder bronze-black ; a short narrow line of black on the 

 lores, a white spot in front of the eye ; sides of face, ear-coverts, sides of neck and 

 fore-neck golden-buff ; chin and entire throat white ; the feathers of the breast deep 

 black with white bases ; sides of body, axillaries, and under wing-coverts uniform 

 black ; abdomen, thighs, under tail-coverts, and sides of rump buffy-white ; bill 

 distal half black, extreme tip brown, basal half and frontal plate pale red ; iris 

 pale yellow, eyelids blue ; feet and legs olive-brown. Total length 205 mm. ; culmen 

 and comb 37, wing 122, tail 35, tarsus 56. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male but larger. Total length 225 mm. ; 

 culmen and comb, 44, wing 142, tail 37, tarsus 64. 



Young (bird of the first year). Differs chiefly from the adult in having the loral 

 streak, entire head and nape rufous, the feathers of the back, scapulars, and wings 

 with rufous margins, the upper tail-coverts and tail dull black tipped with rufous, 

 and the entire under-surface of the body white with a tinge of buff on the fore-neck 

 and breast. 



Immature (bird of the second year). Shows an advance towards the adult 

 plumage by the appearance of black intermixed with rufous on the head, the black 

 loral streak, the encroachment of black on the sides of the breast, and the outline 

 of golden-buff on the sides of the neck and the fore-neck, but still leaves an open 

 space on the breast which is completely covered with black in the next stage. 



Nestling (just out of down). Has a reddish head ; very dark brown hind -neck 

 and mantle ; upper back brown with rufous edges to the feathers ; lower back 

 black with rufous edges, giving a barred appearance ; wings buff ; under-surface 

 white, the frontal plate just showing. 



