140 STRUCTURE AND CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS 



gnathism that ' it does not fadge so well as any other one of 

 the palatal types of structure with recognised groups of 

 birds based on other considerations.' This might be really 

 said of saurognathism also ; for the woodpeckers are not so 

 far removed from other picarian birds as the structure of 



FIG. 77. SKULL OF Rhea. VENTRAL 

 VIEW. (AFTER HUXLEY). 



t-'ni.i; premaxilhv ; J/r/>, maxillo-palatiue ; R, 

 rostrum ; Vo, vomer ; J'l, palatine ; Pf, 

 pterygoid ; *, basipterygoid process. 



Pmx, 



FIG. 78. SKULL OF Dacclo (AFTER 

 HUXLEY). 



Ln, laoiymal. Other letters as iu previous 

 figure. 



their skull would lead us to believe. Neither are any of the 

 subdivisions, except that of the dromseognathse, really satis- 

 factory from the classificatory point of view. Their in- 

 efficiency, however, is rendered harmless by the fact that 



