PARING. MECISTURA. 181 



siderably elongated and decurved. Bill very short, rather 

 stout, compressed ; upper mandible with its dorsal line con- 

 vex, the ridge narrow, the sides convex and sloping, the 

 edges direct, without notch or sinus, the tip acute, conside- 

 rably decurved, and rather elongated ; lower mandible with 

 the angle very short, the dorsal line convex, the tip acute ; 

 gape-line a little arched. Tongue very slender, subsagittate 

 at the base, abruptly terminated, with four bristles ; oeso- 

 phagus of uniform width ; stomach roundish, compressed, 

 moderately muscular, with the epithelium rugous ; intestine 

 short, and of moderate width ; coeca very small ; cloaca glo- 

 bular. Head broadly ovate, very large ; neck short ; body 

 rather full. Nostrils small, round, and concealed by the fea- 

 thers. Eyes small ; eyelids with very broad, crenate, bare 

 margins. Feet of ordinary length, rather slender ; tarsus 

 compressed, with seven large anterior scutella ; toes rather 

 slender, first proportionally large, anterior toes united at the 

 base ; claws long, moderately arched, extremely compressed, 

 laterally grooved, very acute. Plumage exceedingly soft, 

 loose, and elongated ; wings of moderate length, concave, 

 rounded ; first quill small, fourth and fifth longest ; tail very 

 long, straight, graduated. 



111. MECISTURA LONGICAUDATA. LONG-TAILED MUFFLIN. 



Tail very long ; plumage extremely soft and tufty ; head, 

 throat, and breast, white ; a broad band over the eye, the nape, 

 and the back, black ; scapulars reddish ; tail black, the three 

 lateral feathers on each side externally white. Young duller, 

 without red on the scapulars. 



Male, 5{, 6ft, 2 T 5 ? , T V, if, T \, &. 



This singular looking bird, the most diminutive of our Bri- 

 tish species except the Kinglets, is generally distributed in 

 the wooded and cultivated districts. Its habits are similar to 

 those of the Tits, with which it occasionally associates ; but 

 it differs from them in attaching to the branches its nest, which 

 is of an oblong form, composed of moss and lichens, lined with 

 feathers, and having a small aperture near the top. The eggs 

 are numerous, next in size to those of Kegulus auricapillus. 

 being from six to seven- twelfths long, and about five- twelfths 

 in breadth, white, generally marked with numerous faint red 

 dots at the larger end. I have seen a nest in which were six- 

 teen young ones. 



