NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Description, &c. 



to the end, very long, and as thick as a horse 

 hair, without being subdivided into fibres. The 

 stem or shaft is flat, shining, black, and knotted 

 below; and from each knot there proceeds a 

 beard, which, as well as those at the end of the 

 large feathers, are perfectly black ; towards the 

 roots they are of a grey tawny colour; short, 

 soft, and throwing out fine fibres, like down; so 

 that nothing appears except the ends, which are 

 hard and black, the other part, composed of 

 down, being quite covered. On the head and 

 neck the feathers, are so short, and thinly sown, 

 that the skin appears naked, except towards the 

 hinder part of the head, where they are a little - 

 longer : those which adorn the rump, are very 

 thick, but do not differ, in other respects, from 

 the rest, excepting their being longer. The 

 wings, when deprived of their feathers, are 

 but three inches long ; and the feathers resemble 

 those on the other parts of the body. The ends 

 of the wings are armed with five prickles, of dif- 

 ferent lengths and thickness, which bend like a 

 bow : these are hollow from the roots to the ex- 

 tremities, having only that slight substance within 

 which is common to all quills. The longest of 

 these prickles is eleven inches, and a quarter of 

 an inch in diameter at the root, being thicker 

 there than towards the extremity, and is so blunt 

 at the end that the point seems broken pff. 



This animal, however, is distinguished chiefly 

 by the head, which, though small, like that of 



