ORTHONYX  , the scientific name given in 182o, by C . J . Temminck, to a. little

bird, which, from the straightness of its claws—a character somewhat exaggerated by him—its large feet and spiny tail, he judged to be generically distinct from any other form . The typical species, O. spinicauda, is from south-eastern Australia, where it is very local in its distribution, and strictly terrestrial in its habits . It is rather larger than a skylark, coloured above not unlike a hedge-sparrow . The wings are, however, barred with white, and the chin, throat and breast are in the male pure white, but of a bright reddish-orange in the female . The remiges are very short, rounded and much incurved, showing a bird of weak flight . The rectrices are very broad, the shafts stiff, and towards the tip divested of barbs . O. spaldingi from Queensland is of much greater size than the type, and with a jet-black plumage, the throat being white in the male and orange-rufous in the female . Orthonyx is a semi-terrestrial bird of weak flight, building a domed nest on or near the ground . Insects and larvae are its chief food, and the males are described as pe*forming dancing antics like those of the lyre-bird (q.v.) . Orthonyx belongs to the Oscines division of the Passeres and is placed in the family Timeliidae .

(A .