Genus—S E RIC U LU S. 
Semcuius Swainson, Zool. Journ., Vol. I., 
pt. 4, p. 476, Jan. 1825. Type (by 
monotypy) .. .. .. .. Meliphaga chrysocephala Lewin. 
Also spelt— 
SerictdaYoigt, Das Tliierreich (Cuvier), Vol. I., p. 505. 1831. 
Apparently of no relationship to the other birds with which it is now associated, 
mainly on account of its bower-building habits. 
Smaller “ Bower-Birds ” of distinct coloration, with long thin bill, long 
wrings, long tail, and long legs and feet. 
The bill is quite unlike that of any of the preceding members of this 
“ family,” being typically Thrushlike in form, long and thin, laterally compressed 
mth little basal expansion, the culmen little curved, the nostrils as open linear 
ovals, operculate m a nasal groove which extends one-third the length of the 
bill, the tip shghtly decurved with a small posterior notch; the bill is about 
as Tvide as deep at the base, the lower mandible being about as deep as the 
upper; no nasal or rictal bristles noticeable ; the inteiTamal space feathered, 
triangular, about one-thu-d the length of the biU. 
The wing has the third and fourth primaries longest, the fifth a little 
shorter, the second equal to the sixth and the first about half the length of 
the third; the secondaries about equal to the eighth primary and much longer 
than the first; secondaries broad, primaries narrow. 
The tail is long, emarginate, the feathers rather narrow. 
The legs long and tliin, about eight scutes in front, bilaminate behind; 
the toes are long, the outer longer than the inner, but with claw shorter than 
the long middle toe without its claw; the hind-toe stouter and longer than 
the inner toe; the hind-claw stoutest and longest, but the hind-toe and claw 
shorter than the middle toe and claw. 
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