CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 4. COLXfMBJ^. 233 
THE SUPEEB MENtJRA. 
arranged with very different groups by different authors, some placing it with the gallinaceous 
birds, its apparent relation to which is shown by the name Wood-Pheasant, sometimes given to 
it ; others with the hornbills and the hoatzin among the conirostres ; others in the neighborhood 
of the thrushes ; others with the wa-ens ; and others with the pigeons. It is nearly the size of 
the common fowl, bxit is rendered remarkable by the structure of the feathers of the tail in the 
male. These are very long, and of three kinds. Twelve of them arc furnished with slender dis- 
tant barbs, which give them an exceedingly light appearance; two others, placed in the middle 
of the tail, are furnished with short close barbs only oti one side, while the most striking feature 
of all is formed by the two external qnill-feathers, which are very broad, and curved into the form 
of an elongated S, so arranged as to present a close resemblance in outline to the lyre of the 
ancients. 
The bird is supported upon long and tolerably strong legs, terminated by feet which, except 
for the absence of membranes at the base of the toes, might easily be mistaken for those of a gal- 
linaceous bird ; and the lyre-bird runs upon the ground with great facility, and, in fact, in many 
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