482 ANNUAL HECOKD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



ternal characters. A recent examination of the anatomy of 

 the genus has convinced M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards that 

 the genus is a grallatorial form, and the type of a very dis- 

 tinct family allied to that of the Kails and to that of the 

 Herons. Those two families, it is also to be remarked, are 

 placed in widely different groups by Professor Huxley; the 

 former belonging to the Schizognathw, and the latter to the 

 Desmocpiathce, two of the four primary groups in which all 

 birds (except the ostrich group) are divided. The osseous 

 roof of the mouth resembles that of the Rails (that is, the 

 bird is schizognathous), but in other respects it more nearly 

 approximates the Herons. 



A False Under -tail in Storks. 



In birds generally the tail is well defined, and not to be 

 confounded with or overpassed by contiguous feathers. In a 

 number of species, however, the upper tail-coverts are in- 

 creased in size, and assume diverse forms ; but perhaps the 

 most curious development is that exhibited by certain mem- 

 bers of the family of Storks, or Ciconiids. It is but recently 

 that the facts in the case have been made known, and renewed 

 attention has been lately called to them by Mr. Ridgway and 

 others. The birds in question are, in most respects, closely 

 allied to the common stork of Europe, but the true tail is 

 very short and deeply forked, while the loioer tail-coverts are 

 mucJi elongated, extend far beyond the tail itself, and are 

 quite stiff, thus simulating the rectrices, and deceiving the 

 observer into the belief that they form the true tail. " In- 

 deed," says Mr. Ridgway, " all authors whom I have been 

 able to consult in the matter describe the black, stiff feath- 

 ers as the upper coverts, and the longer, softer, but still firm 

 feathers beneath them, with a rounded posterior outline, as 

 the tail ; in fact, it was only after the most careful examina- 

 tion that I determined the former to be true rectrices." Mr. 

 Ridg way's observations were based on the South American 

 Ciconia maguari,ov which he lias established the genus JEuxe- 

 nura. It appears, however, that the same characteristics are 

 exhibited by the Ciconia episcopus of Africa and India, which 

 had previously been distinguished as the type of the genus 

 Uissura. These are the only two forms known which are 

 characterized by such a peculiarity of the tail and its coverts. 



