Genus MICROURA, Gould, 
Characteres Generici. 
Rostrum longitudine caput cequans, fere rectum, acuminatum, gracile et lateraliter compressum, gonyde leviter incurvato. 
Nares basales lineares, et operculo tecta. Sette basales desunt. Ales brevissima, molles, concava, et rotundata, pri- 
mariis, quartis, quintis, et .sextis longissimis et inter se aqualibus. Cauda condita, mollis. Tarsi elongati, graciles, 
laves ; digito posteriore, cum ungue, magno et robusto, digitumque medium quoad longitudinem aquante ; digitis ante- 
rioribus gracilibus, et unguibus parvis instructis j digitis lateralibus brevioribus et aqualibus. Plumae corporis, densa, 
molles, et sericea. Co\oy fuscus. 
MICROURA SQUAMATA, Goidd. 
Scaly-breasted Little-tail. 
Mic. corpore superiore intensi fusco leviter oUvaceo tincto ; lateribus capitis flavescente fusco guttatis nec non tectricibus 
alarum corporisque lateribus, at pallidius ; gula, pectore, abdomineque fuscis singulis plumis albido marginatis, squamas- 
que fingentibus, rostro intense fusco, tarsis pedibusque brunnescenti-carneis. 
In altero specimine margines plumarum guttur alium et abdominalium, qui in priore albidi, fulvum colorem ostendunt. 
Long. tot. 3-f unc . ; rostri, ■§-; ala, 2|-; tarsi, 1. 
General colour of the upper surface deep brown, slightly tinged with olive ; sides of the head spotted with yellowish 
brown, as are also some of the wing-coverts and the flanks, but more faintly ; feathers of the throat, chest, and 
belly dark bromi edged with greyish white, giving to these parts a scaly appearance ; bill dark brown ; feet 
and legs light flesh brown. 
In a second specimen the coloui’ing is precisely the same, with the exception that those parts of the under- 
surface which are greyish white in the above are of a rich tawny brown. 
Microura squamata, Gould, in Proc. of Zool. Soc. Part V. 1837. 
This curious little bird is almost tailless, this organ being so slightly developed that it consists of merely the 
rudiments of a few weak downy feathers scarcely one-fourth of an inch in length. Besides my own specimens, 
which were received from the Himalaya, I have examined two others from Nepal, all of which were alike in the 
rudimentary nature of the tail-feathers ; I am consequently led to believe that this character is permanent and 
have named it accordingly. The accompanying plate represents the bird in two different states of plumage, 
which in all probability are indicative of a difference of sex, as both specimens appear to have arrived at 
maturity and to have been preserved at the same time. The great length of its tarsi, and the rounded and 
concave form of its wings, at once indicate its partiality to the ground. Its plumage is thick, soft, and silky, 
a covering admirably adapted for an inhabitant of dense underwood, beneath the canopy of which it in all 
probability is an habitual resident. 
The specimens from which the figures are taken have lately been added to the fine collection of the Zoolo- 
gical Society of London. 
Habitat, the Himalaya Mountains and Nepal. 
The figures are of the natural size. 
