196 ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



hue, is distinctly visible. This appearance is most 

 remarkable in the older birds, in which these parts are 

 left nearly bare. The wings are so extremely small as 

 to be quite invisible when applied to the surface of the 

 body. They are clothed with feathers exactly similar 

 to those of the back, which, it should be observed, 

 divide as it were from a middle line, and fall gracefully 

 over on either side. The colour of the bill and legs is 

 of a dusky black ; and that of the iris dull brown. 



There appears to be but little difference in colour 

 between the two sexes ; but the young on first quitting 

 the shell have a much more elegant livery. A brood of 

 these has lately been hatched at the Society's Garden, 

 in which the ground colour is grayish white, marked 

 with two longitudinal broad black stripes along the 

 back, and two similar ones on either side, each sub- 

 divided by a narrow middle line of white. These stripes 

 are continued along the neck without subdivision, and 

 are broken on the head into irregular spots. Two 

 other broken stripes pass down the fore part of the 

 neck and breast, and terminate in a broad band passing 

 on either side across the thighs. As in the fully grown 

 bird the bill and legs are of a dusky hue. 



These birds appear to be widely spread over the 

 southern part of the continent of New Holland and the 

 neighbouring islands ; but we are not aware that they 

 have been hitherto discovered in its tropical regions. 

 They were formerly very abundant in the neighbour- 

 hood of Botany Bay and Port Jackson, but have been 

 of late years compelled by the increasing numbers of 

 the settlers to seek shelter in the interior. On the 

 south coast they have been met with in great plenty, 

 at Port Phillip by Captain Flinders, and at King- 

 George's Sound by the same officer and the naturalists 

 of the expedition under D'Entrecasteaux. They seem 



