846 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PALUDICOLM— GRUES. 



of liorny spurs on each. In Palumedea there are 14 rectrices, and a slender horn on the forehead 5-6 inches long ; the 

 species of Chauna are not unicorns, but crested, with naked lores, and have 12 tail-feathers. These birds range ni size 

 2-3 feet long. Sucli birds as these can belong to " PaiudicolcB " under no possible definition of this order, and I only 

 notice them in this, their traditional position, to show that they do not belong here. They would go better witli Anxeres, 

 where they are now usually assigned ; and may still better constitute a separate order of birds, as that instituted for 

 their reception by the name of Pulamedere by Dr. Sclater in 1880. 



4. Fam. Heliornithid^. This famUy is another puzzler ; the greatest difference of opinion still prevails concern- 

 ing it, as usual in cases where our information is deficient. It is a small group, consisting of the South American Sun- 

 bird or Fin-foot, Ileliornis fulica (or Surinamensis) ; the African Podica senegalensis and another species, and tlie Asiatic 

 Heliopais personata. The question is, whetlier they are most nearly related to Coots, and thus to Rails, as those orni- 

 thologists think who refer them to Fulicarim ; or to Grebes, as some suppose. They agree with both these diverse types 

 in their most obvious external feature, which is, that the toes are lobate, being garnislied with wide scalloped flaps in 

 their whole length. Thus far the case is equivocal, and the ambiguity does not entirely disappear on anatomical investi- 

 gation ; palate schizognathous without basipterygoids ; nasals holorhinal ; no occipital fontanelles and no supraorbital 

 fossae ; sternum long, single-notched behind, with a low keel, to which the furculum is ankylosed ; accessory semitendinosus 

 absent (formula A B X), and biceps cruris peculiar in its relations ; caeca moderately developed ; oil-gland tufted ; plu- 

 mage not aftershafted ; tail well developed, with 18 rectrices; neck long and slim, and head small. These birds are thor- 

 oughly aquatic, able to dive as well as to swim. We are insuflSciently informed concerning their reproduction ; the young 

 of the South American bird are said to hatch naked and to be only two in number. If the birds are properly placed in the 

 present order at all, they certainly belong with its Ralline division. 



No doubt attaches to any of the following families, which are evidently members of an order of birds to which 

 Cranes belong : 



5. Fam. Eueypygid^. Represented by Eurypyga helias and E. major, the Sun-bitterns of South America, the 

 first of which formerly called Ardea helias, Scolopax sokaHs, and by other names, as Caurale, a word coined by Buffon 

 as equivalent to Tailed Rail (Rale a queue), and becoming in English Caural or Carle. This is the form by means 

 of which the present group of birds is related to or even connected with Herons ; its general aspect may be called 

 that of a Heron-like Rail. The plumage is very beautifully barred and spotted, somewhat as in Tiger-bitterns, and dis- 

 played to great advantage in some of the bird's " showing-off " performances ; the legs are rather short, the neck is long 

 and slim, the head small, the bill long and slender; the length is about 18 inches. The wings are very ample, with long 

 aquintocubital secondaries, as in Herons ; the tail is likewise long and full. The tibiae are bare below, the tarsi scutel- 

 late before and behind ; the hallux is fairly well developed. The bill is long-grooved, with linear, pervious, and somewhat 

 operculate nostrils. The muscular formula is A B X Y ; palate schizognathous ; nasals schizorhinal ; no basipterygoids, 

 supraorbital fossae, or occipital fontanelles ; sternum single-notched on each side behind ; caeca small ; oil-gland nude ; 

 the plumage includes pulviplumes ; rectrices 12, and primaries 10. The young hatch downy, but stay in the nest, and 

 are long fed by the parents ; the nature is therefore altricial or nidicolous, but ptilopsedic ; the eggs are colored. 



6. Fam. Rhinochetid.e. The Kagu of New Caledonia, Rhinochetus jubatus, alone represents this family. The 

 structural characters are very nearly those of Eiirypyga ; the caeca are better developed, and the muscular formula is 

 A X Y. The plumage is aftershafted ; the wing quintocubital. The nostrils have a remarkable structure, in the pres- 

 ence of an elastic sheath-like operculum ; this appears to have some function in connection with the bird's mode of feed- 

 ing, and it is upon this peculiarity that the generic name was bestowed (pi;, ptvds, ftris, hrinos, nostril, and 6\eT6s, 

 ochetos, a channel, pipe, or tube. ) The plumage somewhat resembles that of the foregoing, and the bird has a similar 

 method of showing it off ; but its most marked feature is the long pendent crest which hangs down over the neck behind 

 like a sort of mane (whence the specific name jubatus, maued). The habits are nocturnal, and in captivity quite frolic- 

 some ; the nest, eggs, and mode of propagation are unknown. 



7. Fam. Mesitid.*:. Another monotypic family, confined to Madagascar and consisting only of Mesifes variegata. 

 This bird was misunderstood long enough to be misrepresented as a kind of Rail, Pigeon, or Fowl, and even an Oscinine 

 Passerine. Its structure is closely correspondent with that of the Kagu and Sun-bittern. Bill slender, with long, linear, 

 slitlike, and operculate nostrils ; 5 pairs of powder-down patches present ; tail-feathers 10 ; a bare space about eye ; tarsi 

 scuteUate before and behind ; hallux long and completely insistent. 



The last three families are so obviously well related to one another, and so distinct from the others above described, 

 as well as from the Cranes and Rails proper to be next noticed, that, so long as they are retained under an order Pulu- 

 dicoke or Alectorides, they should form one of its suborders ; and for this the name Eurypygce may be used, as derived 

 from that of the earliest known genus of the suborder. 



All remaining Paludicoliue birds are four families, either of the Crane type or of the Rail, and as such represent 

 two suborders of Pahtdicolce, Grues, and Balli ; both of which occur in North America. These are more particularly 

 those to which Huxley's term Geranomorphce applies. 



Suborder GRUES: Cranes, Agamis, and Courlans. 



(Gruiformes of the KEY, 1884-90— Grues of the A. 0. U. 1886-95.1) 



Represented in North America by two families, Gruidce and Aramidee, and in South 

 America by a third, Psophiidce. The latter consists of five or si.x: species of the single genus 



' Except that the A. O. U. places Aramus under the other suborder, Ralli. 



