426 CLASS AVES. 



The Lyres, (M^enura, Sh.) 



which their size has occasioned some to refer to 

 the GaUinacea, belong evidently to the passerine 

 order from their feet, with separated toes (except the 

 first articulation of the external and middle) ; from 

 their beak, triangular at base, elongated, a little com- 

 pressed and sloped ; toward the point the mem- 

 branous nostrils are large and partly covered with 

 feathers as in the jays. They are distinguished by 

 the large tail, in the male, very remarkable for the 

 three kinds of feathers which compose it ; viz. the 

 twelve ordinary ones, very long, with fine and very 

 separated barbs ; two more, in the middle, furnished 

 on one side only with serrated barbs, and two ex- 

 ternal ones curved like an S, or like the arms of a 

 lyre, the internal barbs of which, large and serrated, 

 are like a broad ribbon_, and the external, very short, 

 grow broad only towards the end. The female has 

 but twelve quills of the usual structure. 



This singular species {Mcenura, Sh. Vieillot, Ois. du 

 Par. PI. xiv, xv.) inhabits the pebbly districts of New 

 Holland ; its size is something less than that of a 

 pheasant. 



The Parkinson of Shaw's Leverian Museum. The 

 Parkinsonius Mirabills, Bechstein, Trans. Lath. Syn. 

 Megapodius Mcenura, Waggler. Waggler has placed 

 this bird as a section of the genus Megapodius; and 

 Temminck refers one genus to the Passerine, and the 

 other to the Gallinaceous order. 



