Bill shorter than the head, stout, compressed laterally, and notched at the tip; culmen bent gradually downwards from the base; lower mandible nearly as stout as the upper; nostrils basal, round, and nearly covered with very fine short hair-like feathers directed forwards, among which are intermingled a few long fine hairs; wings rather long, the first quill short, the third the longest; tertiaries very long, and nearly equalling the primaries; tail short and very slightly rounded; tarsi moderately long and stout, entire posteriorly, and defended anteriorly with hard scuta; feet adapted for the ground; toes very short, particularly the hind one, inner toe rather shorter than the outer; claws short, and nearly straight.

The only species known of this form is strictly Australian, and is a sprightly animated bird frequenting the sterile districts studded with large trees, scrubs, and open glades, where it hops about on the ground in search of insects. Notwithstanding the singularly lengthened form of its scapularies and its terrestrial habits, it appears to me to belong to the same type of form as the Pachycephalæ; its loud piping note and mode of nidification also favours this opinion. It lays three or four eggs, in a round, cup-shaped nest, placed either in a grass tree (Xanthorrhœa) or in a hole or stump of a decayed upright tree.

127. Oreoïca gutturalis[Vol. II. ] Pl. 81.

Genus Dicrurus, Vieill.

A genus of which many species inhabit India and Africa, but of which only one has yet been found in Australia.

128. Dicrurus bracteatus, Gould[Vol. II. ] Pl. 82.

Family MUSCICAPIDÆ, Vig.

Genus Rhipidura, Vig. & Horsf.

Many species of this genus occur in India, the Indian Islands, New Guinea, and Polynesia; and five or six are comprised in the fauna of Australia, over every part of which country, including Van Diemen’s Land, one or other member of the group is found to exist.

129. Rhipidura albiscapa, Gould[Vol. II. ] Pl. 83.
130. Rhipidura rufifrons[Vol. II. ] Pl. 84.
131. Rhipidura Dryas, Gould.