BIRDS OP iTOfiTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 489 



66. Palate desmognathous; palatines broad throughout, only slightly expanded 

 posteriorly; vomer pointed anteriorly; premaxillary enormously large, con- 

 stituting about anterior half of skull, completely ossified, only slightly con- 

 tracted anteriorly, with lateral outlines convex; basipterygoid processes 



absent; oil-gland absent Podargi (extralimital) a 



aa. Dorsal vertebrae opisthocoelous (concave behind;) palatines united medially, not 

 expanded posteriorly, and without latero-posterior processes; rostrum mo vably 

 articulated with skull; myological formula XY Steatornithes (extralimital).6 



SvTperfaiTiily C'J^I»RI]VIXT1L.G-I. 

 THE GOATSUCKERS. 



= Ca'primulgidse. Stejneger, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 1885, 387. — Fueeeringer, 

 Unters. Morph. Syst. ViJg., ii, 1888, 1337.— Sharpe, Hand-list, ii, 1900, 78. 

 ==Capnmulgi Sharpe, Rev. Classif. Birds, 1891, 81; Hand-list, ii, 1900, 78. 



Schizognathous (or very rarely desmognathous) Nycticoraciae with 

 palatines slender anteriorly and enormously expanded posteriorly, 

 vomer truncate anteriorly, premaxillary moderately developed or 

 relatively small (constituting much less than anterior half of the 

 skull), incompletely ossified, strongly contracted anteriorly, with 

 straight or slightly concave lateral outlines; basipterygoid processes 

 and oil-gland present. 



Two carotid arteries; myological formula AXY; feet anisodactyle 

 (flexor tendons of type Va), the hallux connected with the flexor 

 perforans digitorum; cseca present; oil-gland small, nude; a long 

 second pectoral muscle; gall-bladder present (except m Chordeiles); 

 spinal pteryla well-defined on neck, forked on upper back; aftershaft 

 present; rectrices 10; primaries 10; secondaries 12-15. 



a =Podarginae Bonaparte, Prodr. Syst. Om., 1840, 4; Cabanis, in Wiegmann's 

 Archiv fiir Naturg., xiii, pt. i, 1847, 343; Cabanis and Heine, Mus. Hein., ii, 18G0, 

 123; Gray, Hand-list, i, 1869, 53. — =Podargidx Stejneger, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 

 1885, 387; Fuerbringer, Unters. Morph. Syst. Vog., ii, 1888, 1567; Sharpe, Hand- 

 list, ii, 1900, 42.—=Podargi Sharpe, Rev. Classif. Birds, 1891, 79; Hand-list, ii, 

 1900, A2.yPodargidae Gadow, Bronn's Thier-Reich, Vog., ii, 1891, 242, 300 (includes 

 '^yctihiidad). '^Steatornithinae Bonaparte, Consp. Av., i, 1850, 8 (=Steatornithid0e4- 

 Podargidse-t-Nyctibiidas). 



The Podargi (Frogmouths) comprise two well-marked families, Podargidre and 

 iEgothelidse, and are peculiar to the Indian and Australian Regions, being most 

 numerously developed in the Indo-Malayan and Austro-Malayan Subregions. 



& '^Steatominae Q&hiv[i\&, in Wiegmann's Archiv fur Naturg., i, 1847, 346 (includes 

 Nyctibiidae). '^Steatornithinae Bonaparte, Consp. Av., i, 1850, 47 (includes Podargi 

 and Nyctibiidae); ^Steatornithinae Cabanis and Heine, Mus. Hein., iii, 1800, 95; 

 Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1866, 127, 130; Gray, Hand-list, i, 1869, 55. =Stea- 

 tornilhidx Sclater and Salvin, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, 97; Fuerbringer, Unters. Morph. 

 Syst. Vog., ii, 1888, 1339. ^Heterospondyli Cope, Am. Nat., xxiii, Oct., 1889, 871, 

 873. =Steatornithes Sharj^e, Rev. Rec. At. Classif. Birds, 1891 , 79; Hand-list, ii, 1900, 42. 



The Steatornithes (Guacharo or Oil Bird) comprise a single family, Steatomithidae, 

 represented by a single monotypic genus, peculiar to northern South America. 



