MONK MONSTROSITIES 587 



whole body, with a gleam of gilded purple on the nape, a snowy- 

 white rump and rufous tail, offer a marvellously bright combination 

 of colours. Another striking feature is the crest of feathers formed 

 almost like those of the common Peacock, and this crest is pos- 

 sessed also by the true L. impeianus. In Assam a third species, 

 L. sclaleri, is found (Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1870, pi. xiv. ; 1879, pi. li.) crestless, 

 and having the tail white with a 

 broad reddish bar near the tip ; while 

 a fourth, L. I'huysi, having a crest of 

 ordinary feathers, and a dark glossy 

 green tail (op. cit. 1868, pi. i.), in- 

 habits Moupin. Other species may A 



... r _/ (After Swamson.) 



not unlikely reveal themselves as the 



North-eastern portion of the Indian Region is explored. According 

 to Jerdon (op. cit.\ one of the Horned Pheasants, Tragopan or 

 Ceriornis satyrus, is also called " Monaul " by Europeans at Darjiling. 



MONK, a name in some parts of England for the cock BULL- 

 FINCH, and in Australia one of many applied to the FRIAR-BIRD. 



MONSTROSITIES are naturally more observed in domesticated 

 than in wild Birds, and are more commonly cases of excessive 

 than of arrested development. The former may be restricted to 

 overgrowth of otherwise small parts, such as double feathers, or 

 may amount to the addition of a whole limb, or even still greater 

 portion of the body. Frequently such supernumerary parts seem 

 due to an early splitting of the affected member in the embryo, 

 but whether caused by mechanical injury or due to an unusual 

 activity of the growing and multiplying cells it is of course in most 

 cases impossible to say. As a rule, such abnormalities are purely 

 pathological, and not indicative of ancestral conditions, though cases 

 are known in which latent germs have certainly been awakened 

 and given rise to organs or parts of organs that in normal individuals 

 of the species are either absent or rudimentary. 



Supernumerary toes, as in the Dorking Fowl, are of common 

 occurrence. In these cases the additional toe is generally the result 

 of the HALLUX being split into two, and not the real fifth toe, which 

 was long ago completely lost by the Reptilian ancestors of Birds. 



Three legs are very frequent ; the third limb, which is generally 

 smaller and with crippled toes, being attached to the caudal 

 vertebrae, to the pelvis, or even to the femur of one of the proper 

 legs. Such cases have been many times recorded in the Duck, Fowl, 

 Sparrow and other common birds, while Lidbeck long ago described 

 (K. Vetensk. Acad. Handl 1762, p. 164) an adult Eagle with three 

 feet, of which the superfluous foot was placed between the other 

 two and bore seven toes. A more recent and somewhat similar 



