WARBLER. 123 



136.— SOFT-TAILED WARBLER. 



Muscicapa malachura, Lid. Orn. Sup. p. lii. Skate's Zool. x. 407. 



Merion, Tern. Man. Ed. ii. Anal. p. lxviii. 



Soft-tailed Flycatcher, Gen. Syn. Sup. ii. 224. Lin. Trans, iv. 240. pi. 21. 



LENGTH from bill to rump three inches. Bill brownish black, 

 with strong bristles at the base, and curved at the point ; nostrils 

 large, and low down ; plumage in general ferruginous, but the 

 feathers of the back and wings are brown in the middle, and those 

 of the rump soft and silky; middle of the belly dusky white; from 

 the base of the bill a pale blue streak, passing over the eye; throat 

 and fore part of the neck the same in colour, and in some birds a 

 few minute, bluish spots beneath the eye ; wings short, scarcely 

 reaching the base of the tail ; quills dusky, with ferruginous edges ; 

 tail cuneiform, and of a singular structure, four inches or more in 

 length, the shafts of the feathers weak and black, but the webs on 

 each side consisting of slender, hairy, black filaments, placed at 

 distances, and distinct from each other as in those of the Cassowary ; 

 legs pale brown, claws large. 



The female like the male, but without the blue streak over the 

 eye ; and the chin and throat of the same colour with the rest of the 

 plumage. 



Inhabits New-Holland, found about Sidney, and Botany Bay, in 

 marshy places, abounding in long grass, and fine rushes, in which 

 it hides itself very dexterously; and among which, like the Bearded 

 Titmouse, it makes the nest. When disturbed, the flight is short, 

 but it runs on the ground with great swiftness. The native name 

 is Merion Binnion, and the Settlers call it Cassowary Bird. Sup- 

 posed to feed on small flies, and other insects, which lurk in the 

 grass and bushes. Another name for this bird is Merean geree, from 

 the resemblance of the tail feathers, which seem too heavy for the 

 bird when in flight, to those of the Cassowary. It is called Emeu, 



R 2 



