168 



GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY. 



whc.le hyoid apparatus of the woodpeckers is specially modified ; the basihyal is very long 

 and slender, hearing stunted cerato- and glosso-hyals at its extreme end ; there is no um- 

 hyal, or only a rudiment ; the cerato-branchials are long, and the epibrauchials so extraordi- 

 narily elongated in some species as to curl up over the hack of the skull and forward along the 

 top of the skuU to a variable distance ; sometimes, as in fig. 73, curling around the orbit of the 

 eye, or, as in fig. 74, running into the nostril to the tip of the beak. In such cases they 

 bundle together in passing forward over the skull, and go obliquely to one side. (Derivation 

 of the terms in this paragraph: hyal is another form of hyoid; brancJmd, Lat. bianchice, 

 gills; hasi-, Lat. basis, base; cerato-, Gr. Kepas, Kfparos, keivts, Iceratos, horn; epi-, Gr. eVt 

 epi, upon; stylo-, Lat. stylus, a pen; glosso-, Gr. yXwo-o-a, ylossa, tongue; uro-, Gr. oZpa, 

 aura, tail ; thyro-, Gr. dvpeos, thureos, a shield.) 



z^^S^s^ 



Figs. 73, 74. — Uiuler fig. side view nf a woodpecker's (Picns) 

 skull, showing tlie long slender basibyal ( bh), bearing slight elements 

 at its fore end, no uroyhal, and extraordinarily long thyrohyals 

 {cbr, ebr) curving up over back of skull and curling together around 

 orbit of the right eye. Upper fig. top view of skull of Colaptes, 

 showing thyrohyals running along the skull and into right nostril 

 to end of the hill. (Dr. E. W. Shufeldt, U. S. A ) 



Other Bones of the Skull.— 



The articulation uf the loAvei- jaw 

 with the quadrate may have certain 

 sesamoids. Thus, there are two 

 such sclerosteous or ligament-bones 

 in the external lateral ligament of 

 the raven's jaw-joint, and the long 

 occipital style of the comiorant and 

 snake-bird is of the same character, 

 being an ossification in the nuchal 

 ligament of the neck. The siphon- 

 like tube which conveys air from 

 the outer ear-passage to the hollow 

 of the mandible may ossify, as it 

 does in an old raven, resulting in 

 a neat tubular ' ' air-bone '' or at- 

 mosteon (Gr. lirpos, air). 



Types of Palatal Structure 



The arrangement of the bones of the 

 palate in birds results in several 

 types of structure, first defined by 

 Huxley and applied to the classification c)f birds. These are the dromccognathotis, schizog- 

 nathous, desmognathoits and CEgithognathous ; to which Parker has added the saurogiuithous. 

 Huxley proposed to make the primary division of Carinate birds upon this score ; and since 

 the jilan could not be made to work in his hands, it is certainly futile for any one else to 

 demonstrate again the impossibility of establishing the higher groups of birds upon any one 

 set of characters, — upon the modifications of any one structure. Nevertheless, when duly 

 co-ordinated with other characters, palatal structure becomes of the utmost importance in 

 defining large groups of birds. It is necessary, therefore, for the student to clearly understand 

 this matter, which I will lay before him as nearly as ])ossil)lo in the words of the authors 

 just mentioned. 



Dromaeognathism (Gr. dpoim'tos, dromaios, a runner : genus-name of the emeu)- — All the 

 Ratite birds, and the tinamous alone of Carinate birds, are dromccognatJious. "The posterior 

 ends of the palatines and the anterior ends of the pterygoids are very imperfectly, or not at all, 

 articulated with the basisphenoidal rostrum, being usually separated from it, and supported by 

 tlie broad, cleft, hinder end of the vomer. Strong basipterygoid processes, arising from the 



