GENERA. 
Aplonis , p. 54. Smallish Starlings with short stout bills, long pointed wings and shortish 
square tails. The bill is shorter than the head, compressed, curved, with the tip overlapping 
the lower mandible. Nostrils basal, roundish and partly covered with a membrane. Rictal 
bristles. Interramal space small and feathered. Wing pointed with the first primary 
very short, about half the length of the primary coverts; third, fourth and fifth almost 
equal and longest ; the second a little shorter. Tarsus short and covered with about four 
scutes in front and about equal in length to the middle toe and claw. Outer toe connected 
to the middle toe at the base and a little longer than the inner one; hind-toe long and 
stout with claw stout. Tail short and square (fu^cus). (See Gray, Gen. B., Vol. II., pi. 80, 
for cut of head, wing and foot.) pi. 51. 
Dasyramphus , p. 7b. Medium sized, normal coloured Penguins with the exposed bill short and 
deep and very long tails. The bill from the gape is shorter than the head ; the culmen 
a little more than half this length. The latericom swollen, making the bill from the gape 
wedge-shaped. The feathering encroaches on to the bill for most of its length. The depth 
of the bill where the feathering ends about equal to the length of the remainder of the 
exposed bill. The tail long, well over twice as long as the bill from the gape, and composed 
of fourteen stiff feathers ( adelice ). 
Pygoscelis , p. 87. Medium sized, normal coloured Penguins with long thin bills and long tails. 
The bill from the gape about as long as the head ; the culmen a little more than half this 
length. Latericom not swollen. The feathering encroaches on to the bill for about half 
its length. The bill is longer and thinner than in that of Mcgadyptes. Tail long, about 
twice as long as the bill from the gape, and composed of sixteen stiff feathers ( papua ). 
This is the only Penguin 'with white on the head. pi. 53. 
Thalassoica , p. 99. Large Fulmarine birds with short bills, long pointed wings ; medium, almost 
fan-shaped tails, medium legs and long toes. Bill shorter than the head 'with a strong 
curved hook. The nostrils placed in a double tube occupying about one-third of the 
culmen; the space between this tube and where the hook begins is about five mm. The 
latericom wedge-shaped. Gonys curved. Wings long and pointed with the first primary 
longest, the second only a little shorter, the third about one inch shorter than the first. 
Tarsus compressed, with the anterior edge more so, covered with reticulations ; equal in 
length to the inner toe without claw. Outer toe and claw only a trifle shorter than the 
middle toe and claw ; inner toe and claw equal in length to the middle toe alone. Hallax 
reduced to a claw. Tail slightly fan-shaped, and of twelve feathers, and the under tail- 
coverts project beyond the tail-feathers ( antarctica ). 
I have had a plate drawn of the head, foot, wing and tail of the Norfolk 
Island sub-species of Spiloglaux novceseelandice (Plate 54). 
NATIONAL- MUSEUM OF VICTORIA 
