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Show 186 MR. W. K. PARKER ON STEATORNIS CARIPENSIS. [Apr. 2, the adult. In all cases that I have examined there is, in all young birds, a large remnant of the old larval palato-quadrate cartilage, the cartilaginous post-palatine ; this is a correlate of the iEgitho-gnathous fore palate, and is seen in Swifts. Onlv in a few, just the small family of the Pteroptochidae, has the sternum four notches on one side; I long ago saw an additional notch in the Blue-tit (Parus cceruleus) (' Shoulder-girdle and Sternum,' pi. xvi. fig. I). The " interclavicle " is marvellously uniform in the Passerines; it nearly dies out in some few Australian forms. The range of size is considerable, from the Raven to the Nectar-bird, but far less than in the Coccygomorphae, if the Humming-birds are taken into that group. These are a few of the things that show themselves, either throughout, or nearly throughout, the Coracomorphae. These birds do break down as to their syrinx; both in the Eastern and in the Western Notogcea there are forms that fail to be true Oscines. But these Tracheophonous and Haploophonous types form a very small percentage of the whole. Such a syrinx as is seen in the vast majority of this huge assemblage of birds is seen nowhere else; no other bird has an equally complex and perfect second larynx; the Parrots come nearest to them in this respect; and outside the Passerines the Parrots are the highest and most specialized of all existing birds. Now if we survey the Coccygomorphae after the "Cypselomorphae," "Celeomorphae,""and "Psittacomorphee" have been taken in, we shall, indeed, find a contrast in these two great suborders. In the first place this " mixed multitude " only contains about a fourth of the number of the uniform Passerines; but they are ten times as polymorphic. Taking the characters just mentioned in the Coracomorphae in order, we find that the caeca coli are extremely variable; in the iEgithognathous Swifts they are suppressed, also in the Rhamphas-tidae and Picidae; sometimes they are large, as in the Cuckoo aud Goatsucker. The manus shows the interosseous bridge perfect, and completely ankylosed with the 2nd and 3rd digit in Picus, Rhamphastos, and Alcedo ; in the Swift it is gone, in the Trochilidae it is half as large as in the Passerines, and free on its outer edge. The pes does not show, in any case that I know of, the five tendon-canals ; there is a single canal, as a rule, and this may be open behind,-only covered with membrane. The palate in this group, instead of being uniform, shows six different modifications, namely :- 1. .ZEgithognathous-Cypselidae. 2. Saurognathous-Picidae. 3. Schizognathous-Trochilidae, Trogonidae, Caprimulgidae (part). 4. Indirectly Desmognathous-Coliidae. |
