MENURA. 15.9 



GENUS LX,— MENURA. 



A HIS Genus consists of one Species only. 



The bill is stout, conico-convex, a trifle naked at the base. 



Nostrils oval, placed about the middle of the bill. 



Tail long, consisting of sixteen loose-webbed feathers, the two 

 middle ones narrow, exceeding the others in length ; the outer one 

 on each side growing much broader, and curved at the end. 



Legs stout, made for walking. 



SUPERB MENURA— Pl. cxxiv. 



Menura Novse Hollandiae, Ind. Orn. Sup. p. lxi. 



Menura Superba, Lin. Trans, vii. 207. pl. 22. Collins's N. S. Wales, ii. pl. in p. 93. 



Lyre, Tern. Man. d'Orn. Anal, p.lvi. 



Le Parkinson, Ois. dor. ii. pl. 14.15. male — 16jeuneage. 



Das Schweifhahn, Schmid, Vog. p. 100. t. 86. 



Parkinsonian Paradise-Bird, Nat. Misc. 577. 



Superb Menura, Gen. St/n. Sup.u. 271. 



THIS most singular bird is about the size of a Hen Pheasant; 

 length, from the point of the bill to the end of the longest feathers 

 of the tail, three feet and a half; that of the bill, to the gape, one 

 inch and a half, in shape nearly straight, a trifle bent towards the 

 tip, and black; the nostrils in a longish oval slit, placed beyond the 

 middle, where it is depressed ; round the eye very scantily covered 

 with feathers. In the male, the feathers of the crown are somewhat 

 elongated, so as to make that part appear crested ; the general colour 

 of the plumage above is brown ; the greater part of the wing inclines 

 to rufous ; from the chin to the breast the colour is pale rufous, but 

 the rest of the under parts are brownish ash-colour, paler towards 

 the vent; the tail is chiefly composed of loose-webbed feathers, not 



