ni 



Sir W. Jardine on the Habits of Prionites. 



327 



Docophorus Prionitis, from 

 P. Bahamensis. 



numerous specimens of Nirmi, some of which were sent to 

 Mr. Denny, who is now engaged on a monograph of the 

 British species of this very curious race of insects. That 

 gentleman obligingly furnished the drawing for the an- 

 nexed wood-cut, and the following 

 remarks : ce It belongs to one of the 

 genera most numerous in species ; 

 the most striking character is the 

 great size of the trabecular or move- 

 able organs before the antennae ; I 

 know of no species in which they 

 are so large or thick ; the nearest 

 approach is in those species infest- 

 ing the Crow family ; you will see 

 these organs thick and strong in the 

 Nirmi from the Jay, Raven, Carrion 

 Crow, Rook, and Jackdaw." 



The spatulate form of the tail- 

 feathers is another part of the struc- 

 ture of this group which seems to 

 have attracted general observation. 

 It is the popular notion in their 

 native country that the bare portions of the tail-feathers are 

 cut by the bird itself*, which, for this purpose, has been pro- 

 vided with a serrated bill. The observations of Mr. Kirk all 

 tend to disprove this, and we would certainly consider it as 

 merely a state of adult plumage, and when we look around to 

 other groups we see corresponding structures to be far from 

 uncommon. The utility or design of it is not at first appa- 

 rent, except as an indication of maturity. It is common to 

 both sexes, and does not appear before the second moult ; pre- 

 viously the feathers are entire, but there is a narrowing of the 

 web where it becomes afterwards stripped off, and in one or 

 two examples we have seen a lateral feather stripped in the 

 same manner with those in the centre. The bill may be used 

 to dress the feathers, but the serratures on its edges are at 

 once explained by Mr. Kirk's notes, and must prove eminently 

 useful in holding fast the reptiles which constitute a great 



* " This bird seems to suppose that its beauty can be increased by trim- 

 ming the tail, which undergoes the same operation as our hair in a barber's 

 shop, only with this difference, that it uses its own beak, which is serrated, 

 in lieu of a pair of scissors ; as soon as his tail is full-grown, he begins about 

 an inch from the extremity of the two longest feathers in it, and cuts away 

 the web on both sides of the shaft, making a gap about an inch long; both 

 male and female adonize their tails in this manner, which gives them a re- 

 markable appearance among all other birds." — Waterton's Wanderings i 

 p. 127. 



