420 



STRUCTURE AND CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS 



would nowadays associate the gulls with the ducks for a similar 

 reason, though it was, of course, done by the earlier ornitho- 

 logists. The duck-like bill of the flamingo is not so exclusively 

 anatiform as might be thought ; for a very decided stork, 

 Anastomus, has a bill which has very much the same 

 structure as regards the lamellae (hence, indeed, its specific 

 name lamelligerus). 



The typical storks may be distinguished from the typical 

 herons by the following table : 



The set of differences may be certainly regarded as of 

 family value. But it must always be remembered that there 

 are tendencies to the heron-like organisation among true 

 storks ; while Scopus, and possibly Balceniceps, are distinctly 

 intermediate. 



Family Scopidae. There is one genus only, containing but 

 a single species, Scopus umbretta African and from Mada- 

 gascar. The anatomy of this stork-like heron has been prin- 

 cipally investigated, as regards the ' soft parts,' by myself. 1 



It differs from the true herons by the absence of powder- 

 down patches, in having ten primaries instead of eleven, and 

 in possessing sixteen cervical vertebra. On the other hand 

 it differs from the storks in having an ardeiform or at 

 least a ' typical ' syrinx, and (from the Plataleida?) in the 



1 'A Contribution to the Anatomy of Scopus umbretta,'' P. Z. S. 1884, 

 p. 543. 



