104 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM, 



for climbing, as well as for holding food when eating; tarsus never 

 transversely scutellate, but covered with small granular scales or 

 papillae, always shorter than longest toe. Palate desmognathous ; 

 nares holorhinal, the nasal septum extensively ossified; orbital ring 

 frequently complete by union of the lachr^^m^ bones with the post- 

 frontal or post-orbital process; basipterygoid processes absent; dorsal 

 vertebras opisthocoelous ; metasternum usually fenestrated or indented ; 

 furculum weak, sometimes defective or wanting; spina interna sterni 

 absent, S}Tinx with three pairs of intrinsic muscles, peculiarly 

 constructed; deep plantar tendons of type I (galline); myological 

 formula AXY + or~, the ambiens present and normal or present 

 and mcomplete; intestinal convolutions of type IV (telogyi'ous); 

 expansor secundariorum muscle absent; carotid arteries, both pres- 

 ent, running deep into the vertebr arterial canal, or the right one deep 

 and the left superficial, or (in genus Cacatoes) only the left present; 

 crop present, well-developed; no cseca; gall-bladder usually absent. 

 Contour feathers with an aftershaft; spinal pteryla well-defined on 

 the neck by lateral apteria, forked on upper back; oil-gland (when 

 present) tufted; rectrices usually 12 (14 in genus Oreopsitiacus only). 

 Young nidicolous, ptilopaedic or semi-ptiloptedic (said to be at fu'st 

 gymnopnedic in some forms). Eggs immaculate white, usually 

 deposited in boles of trees, etc. 



The accomplished author of the "Catalogue of the Psittaci, or 

 Parrots, in the collection of the British Museum,"" Count Salvador!, 

 admits his inability to present a satisfactory classification of the 

 Psittaci. The late Professor Alfred Newton, in his review ^ of attempts 

 to define the family groups of birds truly remarks that ' ' the system- 

 atic treatment of this very natural group has long been a difficult sub- 

 ject, and almost the only approach to unanimity among those who 

 have made it their study, lies in the somewhat general belief which 

 has grown up in the last half of this century that the Parrots should 

 be regarded as forming a distinct Order," and he, significantly, adds 

 that "it is a reproach to ornithologists that so little satisfactory prog- 

 ress has been made in this direction, and the result is all the more 

 disheartening, seeing that there is no group of exotic birds that affords 

 equal opportimities for anatomical examination, since almost every 

 genus extant, and more than two-thirds of the species, have within 

 recent times been kept in confinement in one or another of our zoolog- 

 ical gardens, and at their death have furnished subjects for dissection." 



Apparently no better scheme of classification has been presented 

 than that of Count Salvador! in the work cited, which is given below, 



" Catalogue ] of the | Birds | in the ] British Museum. ] Volume XX. | London: | 

 Printed by order of the Board of Trustees. | 1891. | (Pp. i-xvii, 1-658; 18 colored 

 plates.) 



& Dictionary of Birds, 1894, 688-690. 



