2 WATTLE-BIRD. 



in a hollow at the base, and half covered with velvety feathers, and 

 those between the bill and eye of the same texture. The tongue is 

 singularly shaped, the end being indented into three or four angles, 

 and furnished with short bristles ;* at the base of the under mandible, 

 on each side, a round, flat, blue substance, not unlike the wattle of a 

 cock, changing by degrees, from the base, to a fine orange; hides 

 blue; the plumage on the forehead and between the bill and eye is 

 black ; the rest dark ash or slate-colour, quills and tail darker. The 

 tail consists of twelve feathers, about five inches in length, and 

 cuneiform in shape, the outer feather one inch shorter than the two 

 middle ones ; the wings, when closed, reach only to the base ; legs 

 long, black, stout ; the hind claw much longer than the others. 



Inhabits New-Zealand : is often seen walking on the ground, 

 though sometimes observed to perch on trees, but less frequently : it 

 feeds on berries of all kinds, and insects ; and it is said, on small 

 birds also. 



The flesh is good to eat, and by some even accounted savoury ; 

 has a note not unlike a whistle, and now and then a kind of mur- 

 muring, though not an unpleasant one. — I am indebted to the late 

 J. R. Foster, for the above account, f In one of these I observe the 

 hind claw to be singularly placed ; not springing as usual from the 

 end of the toe, but from a kind of process, a little above it, and 

 which I have not noticed in any other bird. This came from New- 

 Holland. 



* See the Tongue at the bottom of the Plate. 



f Dr. Foster talks of the shrill notes of Thrushes, the graver pipe of the Wattle-Birds, 

 and the enchanting melody of various Creepers, resounding on all sides.— See Voy. vol. i. 

 148. 



