Genus — P EZOPORUS. 
Pezoporus Illiger, Prodromus Mamm. et Av., p. 201, 
1811 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Type P. wallicus. 
Also spelt — 
Petzophorw Vigors, Trans. Linn. Soc. (Lond.), Vol. XIV., p. 405, 1826. 
Largest Pezoporine birds, with short projecting bills, medium wings, long 
wedge-shaped tails of very narrow pointed feathers and small feet with very 
long claws. 
The coloration is peculiar to this family of Australian Parrots. 
The bill is short and stumpy, strongly projecting with a broad tip : the 
edges of the upper mandible are sinuate but not notched : the under mandible 
is broad and massive, the tip truncate with a slight sinuation. The cere 
consists of two globular excrescences surrounding the small circular apertures 
which serve as nostrils. 
The wing is of medium length, the first four primaries constituting the 
tip, the second and third subequal and longest, the first longer than the fourth : 
the second, third and fourth primaries are scalloped on the outer-web and 
faintly sinuate on inner-tips. 
The tail is very long and strongly wedge-shaped, the feathers very narrow 
and pointed, the middle two attenuated. 
The feet are peculiar, as the toes are comparatively long while the claws 
are very long. 
From the colour-scheme this would be a relative of the Neozelanic Strigops, 
and its habits are similar. It is also a native of Tasmania and is restricted 
to the coastal districts of Southern Australia. It has been compared with 
Strigops, but the keelless sternum of that form has continually prejudiced 
students against the association. Nevertheless, that is a character of 
comparatively small value in comiection with Neozelanic birds and has been 
shown to be of very recent origin in the case of the Pipits and Parrakeets. 
Consequently it is not impossible to consider these forms as closely allied. 
As a matter of fact, Pezoporus seems to bear the same relation to Strigops as 
Porphyrio does to Mantellornis. It is noteworthy that D’Arcy Thomson 
records of Strigops : “ The orbit is complete (in the adult) by union of the 
prefrontal with the postfrontal ; in other words, the orbit of Strigops is 
unlike that of any other Old World Parrot, and resembles that of Chrysotis 
484 
