272% 
‘PLace. 
ME CRY ING Or OR. Ae 
an inch wide, gradually increafing from thence to the extremity, 
where it is full two inches broad, and confiderably curved; the 
outer web is pale brown, and narrow; the inner very broad, inclining 
to grey, but from the middle to the edge fine rufous, marked with 
fixteen curved marks feemingly of a darker colour, but on clofe 
infpection are perfeétly tranfparent ; the end of the feather dufky 
black, fringed all round with white: the thighs are covered with fea- 
thers quite to the knees: the legs fcaly and rough, furnifhed with 
{trong claws, curved much like thofe of a Fow/ or Turkey: the colour 
of both bill and legs is gloffy black. 
I find a fecond fpecimen of this bird in the Briti/h Mufeum, fup- 
pofed to be the female, but I fufpect it to be a young bird. In this 
the loofe webbed feathers are only fo from the middle to the ends, 
being the reft of their length clofely connected as in other birds, and 
not only the exterior feather has the crefcents, but the next to it like- 
wile on each fide, though much-leds diftin&t. In this the two flender 
middle tail feathers were wanting, whether accidental or not could 
not be determined. Since my penning the above, I have been favoured 
by Mr. Lhompfon, of Saint Martin's Lane, with the infpection of {pe- 
cimens of both male and female; the former feemed to anfwer to the 
firft defcription; the latter is in comparifon a very plain bird: it is 
not at all crefted, and thirty-five inches long from bill to tail, which 
is cuneiform in fhape; the longeft feathers being nineteen inches long, 
the outer eleven inches; all the feathers as perfelly webbed as birds 
in general: the colour of the plumage is deep brown: belly inclining 
to afh colour, but the quills and tail are darker than the reft: the 
quills reach about two inches on the bafe of the tail. 
The above curious bird inhabits New Holland, where it is faid to 
be rare; as yet we know only of five fpecimens having arrived in 
England, nor have we been able to obtain any account of its manners, 
or name it is known by among the natives. It may be fufpected 
that the bird rather affects to be upon the ground, in the manner of 
our poultry, as the manifeft wearing of the ends of the claws feem 
to juftify ; not butin all probability thefe birds may perch on trees 
of evenings occafionally, as is ufual in many of the gallinaceous tribe. 
