Genus—PRION ODUR A. 
Peionodura De Vis, Proc Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 
Vol. VIL, p. 561, April 1883. Type (by 
inonot3py) .. .. .. .. P. newtoniana De Vis. 
Corymbicola De Vis, Brisbane “ Curier,” 
Oct. 4th, 1889. Type (by bionotypy) Corymbicola mestoni = 
Prionodura newtoniana De Vis. 
Smaller Bower-Birds with short stout biUs, medium rounded wing, tail long, 
square in female, longer and double wedged in male, small legs and feet. The 
male has a short full crest on the top of the head. 
The bill is about half the length of the head, laterally compressed, deep, 
width at the base less than the height, culmen arched and keeled, tip hooked, 
posteriorly notched, lateral edges of upper mandible straight, nasal groove long, 
nearly half the length of the bill hidden by encroaching frontal feathering 
which entirely conceals the oval nostrils, no distinguishable nasal bristles; 
under mandible stout, more than half as deep as the upper ; interramal space 
short, feathered; gonys long, semi-keeled, ascending. 
The wing has the fourth and fifth primaries longest, the third and sixth 
subequal and httle shorter, the first primary more than half the length of the 
second but less than half the length of the third; the secondaries long and 
broad, equalling the second primary in length. 
The tail in the female is regularly square, feathers broad ; in the male the 
two central feathers have remained normal, the next two a little longer, and 
as they approach the outside they become narrower, the two outside longer 
than the central, but the third from the outside longest. 
The legs are short and not very stout, indistinctly scutate in front, 
bilaminate behind; toes deUcate, middle toe longest and thin, outer longer 
than inner; umer toe with claw equals middle toe alone, hind-toe stoutest, 
but hind-toe and claw shorter than middle toe and claw; claws sharp and short. 
This is one of the most remarkable birds foimd in Australia, as it is very 
distinct, and no allies are known either in Australia or New Guinea. The female 
seems very like Colluricincla, and it is possible that this may have evolved 
from an ancestral ally of that group, but at present there is no knowledge of 
the anatomy or osteology of passeriform birds to enable any guess at the 
Klationships from internal features. The bower-building habits seem to be 
imitative and adaptive, and as far as I can judge do not indicate close 
relationship, four very distinct groups being easily recognisable, with probably 
three sources without affinity. 
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