﻿EXTERNAL ANATOMY. CUNEATED TAIL. 101 



the length of such as are more central. The Prima 

 familiaris *, or wren warbler of India, shows us this 

 structure in great perfection, a& does the whole of the 

 beautiful Australian genus, Malurus. Most of the 

 exotic jays of the genus Cyanurus, all the curve billed 

 cuckoos (Coccyzus), and numerous other groups have 

 tails of this formation, although considerably varied. 

 Sometimes, as in the Indian and African flycatchers, 

 (Muscipeta) the two middle tail feathers are greatly 

 elongated, and the lateral ones are equally graduated on 

 each side. All these however, are but inferior devia- 

 tions from the typical form ; the feathers are broad 

 and thin, and their termination more or less rounded. 



(92.) 5. A cuneated tail is shaped like the last, but 

 the form of the feathers are different. The tail of the 

 woodpecker, in addition to its scansorial property is, as 

 to shape, strictly cuneated, each feather being gradually 

 narrowed from the middle, and terminating in a point. 

 Examples of this form may be seen in nearly all the 

 long-tailed parrakeets, particularly in the genus Pezo- 

 porus; some few may also be found in the genus Synal- 

 laxis, and among the tree creepers, of which we have a 

 native example in our Certhia familiaris. When, 

 however, as in the latter genus, and in the Picidce, a 

 cuneated tail is likewise scansorial, the former appella- 

 tion merges into the latter. 



(93.) 6. Arcuated, or arched tails, belong only to Rasorial 

 types. This form, in the proportion which the feathers 

 bear to each other, is similar to the last ; but, instead of 

 being straight, they are gently arched, and those in the 

 middle are so convex that they lap over, as if to pro- 

 tect the others. The common pheasant shows us this 

 form in perfection, and it is almost general throughout 

 the genus ; another magnificent bird, the Calurus pa- 

 vonius \, possesses this structure highly developed. 



(94.) 7. Spatulate, or racket-shaped tails, exhibit 

 a very remarkable form, totally different from any 

 other. It consists in the middle pair of feathers 



* Zool. Illust. ii. pi. 97. t Ibid. ii. p. 107. 



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