434 STRUCTURE AND CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS 



tirely absent ; their former presence is indicated by a narrow 

 ligament on each side (fig-. 42, p. 62), which occupies the place 

 that a muscle should, and is attached precisely where the 

 intrinsic muscles are attached in other Ardeidae. The meni- 

 brana tympaniformis is well formed, the bronchidesmus is 

 incomplete, while the general form of the organ is purely 

 tracheo-bronchial and thoroughly ardeine. This will be 

 apparent from the annexed woodcuts. 



' The nearest relations of Balaniceps,' said PARKER, ' are 



the South American boatbill (Can- 

 croma cochlea ria) and the little 

 South African umbre (Scopus um- 

 hri'tta)." The interorbital septum is 

 stork-like in its completeness. The 

 lacrymal, as in Sco'pus alone among 

 Herodiones, reaches as far down as 

 the quadrate jugal bar, but it is fused 

 anteriorly with the walls of the 







skull. The nostrils are continued 

 forward by a groove precisely like 

 that of Scopus and Cancroma. In 

 FIG. 205. SYRINX OF Bate- the palatine bones the fusion of the 



tllCCpS, ARRANGED TO DISPLAY 



PESSULUS AND MEMBRANA internal laminae to form a median 



TYMPANIFORMIS (AFTER BED- keel I 3elimd tne interparietal space 

 DARD). 



is precisely like Scopus ; so, too, is 



the lateral angle of these bones (see p. 422) . There is a firm 

 synostosis between the furcula and the carina sterni. 



Cervical vertebrae 7-13 have, as in most other Herodiones 

 (excluding, however, the supposed ally of Balceniceps, Scopus}, 

 a ventral catapophysial canal. 



The family Plataleidae includes not only the spoonbills 

 but the ibises. The name Hemiglottides was applied by 

 NITZSCH to the group ' on account of the surprising small- 

 ness of their tongues.' 



The pterylosis is exactly as in the storks. 1 The rectrices 



1 According to NITZSCH It appeared to me (in Platalea rosea) to be more 

 like that of Tantalus loculator, in that the hinder part of the spinal tract was 

 not bifid, but continuously though sparsely feathered. 



