Few of the discoveries I made in Australia interested me more than that of the species forming the subject of the present genus, and of which during my sojourn in the country I only obtained a male. Subsequently Mr. Strange sent me another example, which from its much larger size and the circumstance of its neck being adorned with a beautiful collar of mingled black and white feathers, I considered a distinct species and characterized it as such, under the name _P. torquatus_, and assigned that of _microurus_ to the males or birds destitute of the collar, an error which the observations of Sir George Grey and Mr. Strange have enabled me to rectify, and which shows that this bird is another of the anomalies so often met with in Australia, since, contrary to the general rule, the female is a far finer and more conspicuously-coloured bird than her mate. “You ask me,” says Sir George Grey, “to tell you something about _Pedionomus_. There is but one species; you have described two, _P. torquatus_ and _P. microurus_; the former is the female and the latter is the male. We have now three of these birds in confinement, all similar to your _P. torquatus_. We had four; the fourth, which died, was like your _P. microurus_; and was certainly a male; they were all caught in the same net, hence I infer that several females associate with one male. “We have had several of these birds in confinement at different times; they eat pounded wheat, raw and boiled rice, bread and flies; the latter appear to be their favourite food. They soon become perfectly tame; the three now in our possession we have had for upwards of four months. “These birds are migratory; they appear at Adelaide in June and disappear about January; where they go has not yet been ascertained. They never fly if they can avoid so doing, and are often caught by dogs; when disturbed, they crouch down and endeavour to hide themselves in a tuft of grass. When running about they are in the habit of raising themselves in a nearly perpendicular position on the extremities of their toes, so that the hinder part of the foot does not touch the ground, and of taking a wide survey around them. The Emu sometimes stands in a similar position. I have not yet ascertained anything respecting their nests, eggs or time of breeding. The call of those we have in confinement precisely resembles that of the Emu, not the whistle, but the hollow-sounding noise like that produced by tapping on a cask, which the Emu utters, but is of course much fainter.” The Plate therefore represents two females, and the appellation of _microurus_ given to the male bird should be the one adopted. As the male has not been figured, the following description of that sex is given:—