446 . Zoological Society : — 



Perhaps we ought to expect the skull of a bird to be the seat of 

 more extensive teleological modifications than any other part of the 

 skeleton, seeing that it must perform such varied duties, learn so 

 many trades, and be the servant and caterer to the whole body ; 

 whilst the hands, which in some of the higher mammals minister to 

 the necessities of the creature, are here necessarily restricted to one 

 or two functions. If a rule like this could be clearly made out, it 

 would go far towards settling many a disputed point of relationship ; 

 the Hornbills and the Kingfishers would not then startle the student 

 of the Insessores; and the Flamingo (Phcenicopterus), notwithstand- 

 ing its lamellirostral character, might be allowed to stalk amongst 

 the Herons. 



The broad expanded occiput of the Balceniceps differs but little 

 from that of the Adjutant ; but the upper surface of the skull, instead 

 of being generally rough and convex, as in the latter bird, is smooth, 

 flat, and even concave at its anterior half. In the Balceniceps, as in 

 the Heron and Boatbill, the large eye-ball has elevated the upper or- 

 bital margin above the level of the mesial part of the skull, whilst in 

 the Adjutant that margin is some distance below. Moreover, the 

 skull of the Balceniceps is very short as compared with that of the Ad- 

 jutant, and in density and polish of the bone is more like that of the 

 great Maccaws (Ara) ; its transverse hinge,|too, with the upper jaw- 

 bone, is more like that of these birds than that of its own congeners. 

 There is no bony bridge over the temporal fossae in this bird, in which 

 respect it agrees with the Heron and Boatbill, and differs from the 

 Adjutant. The eye-ball being very large and the skull very short, 

 the anterior orbital margin is one-third of an inch in front of the 

 great transverse hinge; whilst in the Adjutant, and even in the 

 Heron, it is half an inch behind that hinge. This modification has 

 caused a displacement of the lacrymal bones, which, although they 

 form the anterior boundary of the orbit, as in other birds, are in 

 front of the great hinge, instead of behind it. The nostrils are high 

 up on the jaws, two-thirds of an inch in front of the hinge, and more 

 than one inch apart ; at their anterior end they are continuous with 

 the deep submesial grooves that mark out the strong bony ridge 

 of the upper jaw, and pass forwards to mark the boundary of the 

 great terminal beak. On the mid-line, a little behind the nasal fossse 

 and in front of the hinge, the upper jaw-bone rises into a rough boss. 



Now in most birds the highest part of the upper jaw is between 

 the nasal fossse, and not behind as in the Balceniceps. This cha- 

 racter, with the backward extension of the jaw, the shortness of the 

 frontals, and the very forward position of the enormous well-margined 

 orbits, helps to give a solemn, wise, but somewhat sinister aspect to 

 the bird. Looking at him in his paddock, the first impression is 

 that we have before us some strangely ancient form with " the breath 

 of life" in it, and " standing upon its feet," concerning which geo- 

 logy had taught us that " its bones were dried up, and its hope lost." 



The marginal outline of the great upper jaw of the Balceniceps 

 much resembles that of the leaf of Magnolia yrandijlora. Its length 

 is more than twice its breadth ; whilst in the Boatbill the breadth 



