It has often been asserted that Australia abounds in anomalies, and in no instance is the truth of this proposition more fully exemplified than in the history of the very singular bird here represented, respecting the situation of which, in the natural system, much diversity of opinion has hitherto prevailed. It was consequently one of the birds which demanded my utmost attention during my late expedition, and I trust that the following details will assist in clearing up this long-disputed point. The bird in question was originally described and figured by the late Dr. Latham in the first volume of his “General History of Birds,” under the name of _New Holland Vulture_; but subsequently he conceived himself in error in classing it with the _Vidturidæ_, and at the end of the tenth volume of the same work placed it among the _Gallinaceæ_, with the generic appellation of _Alectura_: the species was afterwards dedicated to this venerable ornithologist by Mr. John Edward Gray, in his “Zoological Miscellany.” The generic and specific terms, _Catheturus Australis_, were subsequently applied to it by Mr. Swainson, who in both volumes of his “Classification of Birds” replaces it among the _Vidturidæ_, in order, apparently, to establish his own views respecting this family, of which he considers it the rasorial type, and details at some length why he entertains this opinion. “The New Holland Vulture,” says Mr. Swainson, “is so like a rasorial bird, that some authors have hesitated (not having seen a specimen) as to what order it really belonged. So completely, indeed, has nature disguised this rare and extraordinary vulture in the semblance of that type which it is to represent in its own family, that it has even been classed by one writer with the _Menura_; and it must be confessed, that if clear conceptions of the difference between analogy and affinity are not entertained, such a classification has some plausible reasons to recommend it. The feet, in fact, of the two birds are formed nearly on the same principle, but then so are those of _Orthonyx_, a little scansorial bird not much bigger than a Robin. All three genera, in short, are remarkable for their large disproportionate feet, long and slightly curved claws, and the equality of length, or nearly so, of the outer and the middle toe. Nor is this the only peculiarity of the New Holland Vulture; for, unlike all others of its family, it possesses eighteen feathers in its tail. An examination of the bill, which is decidedly raptorial, joined with many other considerations, shows that all these are but analogical relations to the _Rasores_, while the real affinities of the bird are in the circle of the _Vulturidæ_, of which it forms the rasorial type. A perfect specimen of this very rare vulture, now before us,” continues this author, “enables us to speak of its structure from personal examination.”