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Show 180 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE CUCKOOS. [Feb. 1 7, concentrated into a stout band which traverses the upper part of the thigh in a direction nearly at right angles with its long axis. Pyrrhocentor c.elebensis.-In so far as I could make out from a considerably damaged specimen, the pterylosis of Pyrrhocentor celebensis is " Centropine," and hardly differs except in detail from Centropus (see fig. 7, p. 184) and Geococcyx. The spinal tract is strong on the neck, about five feathers wide; at the commencement of the shoulder-blades (at the point of junction of the coracoid and scapula) the feathering seems to disappear altogether for a short space. As in the other genera of the family, the dorsal tract becomes double posteriorly, uniting at about the level of the articulation of the femora to form a single tract rather more closely feathered and running nearly as far as the base of the oil-gland. Behind the shoulder-blades each half of the spinal tract becomes of considerable width, though sparsely feathered, and is completely continuous with a uniform sparse feathering on the surface of the thigh. The two sides of the ventral tract only become separated near the junction of the neck with the body. The feathers of the neck portion of the ventral tract are, as in so many other species, arranged in parallel rows separated by considerable intervals ; the rows of one side are inclined to those on the other at an angle of about 60°, thus forming a series of "chevrons " very characteristic of these birds. The interspaces between the rami of the mandibles appear to be entirely occupied by rows of feathers ; for a very short distance the inferior tract of the neck is continuous with the superior tract. At the commencement of the thorax the ventral tract bifurcates and gives off the humeral tract, which is at first three feathers, and subsequently two feathers, wide. On a level with the anterior margin of the sternum the ventral tract of either side bifurcates into an inner and outer limb ; the latter is at first of some width, extending towards the axilla, and being continuous with a single row of feathers separated by wide intervals upon the hyposternum ; posteriorly it is only one feather wide and passes back parallel to the inner limb to its termination some way in front of the anus ; the inner limb of the ventral tract is regularly two feathers wide. Guira pirigua.-The ventral tract commences with a narrow row of feathers occupying the middle of the space between the two rami of the mandible, either side of this space being bare ; further back, however, the feathering fills the whole of the space between the mandibles. At a point some way below the articulation of the humerus with the shoulder-girdle, the pectoral tract of either side divides into two branches, and is here quite continuous with the humeral tract; the inner branch is two feathers wide at its commencement ; just before its termination in front of the cloaca, it becomes reduced to a single row of feathers. The outer branch is at first rather wider than the inner branch ; from its commencement to the axilla it is two to three feathers wide ; at the axilla it emits a |
