PARINJE. MECISTURA. 
181 
siderablj elongated and decur\^ed. Bill very short, rather 
stout, compressed ; upper mandible with its dorsal line con- 
vex, the ridge narrow, the sides convex and sloping, the 
edges direct, without notch or sinus, the tip acute, conside- 
rably decurved, and rather elongated ; lower mandible with 
the angle very short, the dorsal line convex, the tip acute ; 
gape-line a little arched. Tongue very slender, subsagittate 
at the base, abruptly terminated, with four bristles ; oeso- 
phagus of uniform width ; stomach roundish, compressed, 
moderately muscular, with the epithelium rugous ; intestine 
short, and of moderate width ; coeca very small ; cloaca glo- 
bular. Head broadly ovate, very large ; neck short ; body 
rather full. Nostrils small, round, and concealed by the fea- 
thers. Eyes small ; eyelids with very broad, crenate, bare 
margins. Feet of ordinary length, rather slender ; tarsus 
compressed, with seven large anterior scutella ; toes rather 
slender, first proportionally large, anterior toes united at the 
base ; claws long, moderately arched, extremely compressed, 
laterally grooved, very acute. Plumage exceedingly soft, 
loose, and elongated ; wings of moderate length, concave, 
rounded ; first quill small, fourth and fifth longest ; tail very 
long, straight, graduated. 
ill. MeCISTURA LONGICAUDATA. LoNG-TAILED MuFFLIN. 
Tail very long ; plumage extremely soft and tufty ; head, 
throat, and breast, white ; a broad band over the eye, the nape, 
and the back, black ; scapulars reddish 5 tail black, the three 
lateral feathers on each side externally white. Young duller, 
without red on the scapulars. 
IVTnlp ‘^10 3 15 4 2 
iViaiC, I2f TV 
This singular looking bird, the most diminutive of our Bri- 
tish species except the Kinglets, is generally distributed in 
the wooded and cultivated districts. Its habits are similar to 
those of the Tits, with which it occasionally associates ; but 
it differs from them in attaching to the branches its nest, which 
is of an oblong form, composed of moss and lichens, lined with 
feathers, and having a small aperture near the top. The eggs 
are numerous, next in size to those of Begulus auricapillus^ 
being from six to seven-twelfths long, and about five-twelfths 
in breadth, white, generally marked with numerous faint red 
dots at the larger end. I have seen a nest in which were six- 
teen young ones. 
