ORDER GRALLiE. 399 



raised. The head and top of neck only are clothed 

 with down, and it has a black collar. The rest of 

 the plumage is lead-coloured and blackish, with a 

 white spot at the back of the wing, and another on 

 the base of some of the large quills. There is a pal- 

 mation sufficiently marked between the external 

 toes. It especially eats aquatic plants ; and the 

 Indians of Carthagena bring up some individuals in 

 their flocks of geese and hens, because this bird is 

 said to be very courageous, and capable even of 

 repelling the vulture. A singular phenomenon is, 

 that the skin, even that of the legs, is swelled by the 

 interposition of the air between it and the flesh, 

 and the flesh cracks under the finger.* 



Though they have scarcely any naked part on 

 the leg, we yet think that this is the proper 

 place for 



Megapodius, 



A genus lately discovered in New Guinea, with 

 vaulted and slightly compressed bill, nearly half of 

 which is occupied by the membranous nostrils. 

 The legs are strong, tolerably long, and scaled. The 

 thumb and toes are long, and terminated by large 

 claws, somewhat flat. The tail is short ; there is a 

 naked space round the eye, and a small tubercle on 

 the carpus, which is the first slight vestige of the 



* M. Vieillot has changed the generic name to Ophistolophus ; it has been 

 figured by Pr. Maximilian, in his Abbildungen ; and is the Ckaja Screamer 

 of Lath., from the Ckaja of Azara, and the OphistoJophm Fidelis, Vieil. 



