26 Shufeldt, Skeleton of Kea Parrot (Nestor notahilis). [.sf"}"] 



of its tongue, as previously shown by him {op. cit., 1872, p. 789), 

 indicates only a superficial resemblance. Like so many other 

 New Zealand forms, Nestor seems to be isolated, and may fairly 

 be deemed to represent a separate family — NestoridcB — a view 

 adopted by Count T. Salvadori (" Cat. Birds Brit. Mus.," xx., 

 introd., p. viii.), and fully justified by a cursory examination of 

 its osteology, though this has hitherto been only imperfectly 

 described and figured (Eyton, " Osteol. Avium," p. 72 ; A. B. 

 Meyer, " Abbild. von Vogel-Skeletten," p. 18, pi. 23)." 



What Eyton sets forth on page 72, vol. i., of his " Osteologia 

 Avium " is of scant value, in so far as it throws any light on the 

 skeletology of this genus ; while the work of A. B. Meyer {" Abbild. 

 von Vogel-Skeletten ") has, in some manner, been lost from the 

 library of the United States National Museum, and consequently 

 the complete skeleton of the Kea, there said to be figured, has 

 not been seen by me in the present comparison. It is very 

 doubtful that it would be of much assistance. 



Garrod gave us a " Note on the Tongue of the Psittacine Genus 

 Nestor,"* in which he compared the soft parts of that organ in 

 a number of Parrots, Nestor hypopolius being among them. He 

 arrived at this conclusion : — " From these considerations, and a 

 comparison of the accompanying drawings of the tongues of 

 Stringops, Nestor, and Trichoglossus, it is evident that the 

 structure of this organ would lead to the placing of Nestor among 

 the typical Parrots, though an aberrant one, and not with the 

 Trichoglossin(£ ; and other points in its anatomy favour this 

 conclusion " (Coll. Mem., p. 116). 



Garrod does not appear to have studied the osseous portion of 

 the tongue in Nestor ; had he done so, he would have discovered 

 how markedly that structure differs from the corresponding parts 

 in Stringops and many other Parrots. 



This author also studied the carotids of Nestor notahilis (Coll. 

 Mem., p. 170), as well as certain muscles of the thigh [loc. cit., 

 p. 195). In three other very famous papers of his he went very 

 thoroughly into these matters, taking other structures up in 

 connection with them {loc. cit., pp. 247-263). Garrod does not 

 appear to have paid much, if any, attention to the skeleton of 

 Nestor in any of his writings. With respect to taxonomy, he 

 relegated the Psittaci to a sub-order. In this sub-order, the 

 PsittacidcB appears as Family II., which includes Sub-family (4) 

 ArincB — Nestor appearing last after the genus Pceocephaliis. 



Forbes paid but scant attention to the anatomy of Nestor. In 

 reviewing Dr. Hans Gadow's paper in the Jenaische Zeitschrift f 

 — a very thorough paper on the anatomy of the avian organs oif 

 digestion — he says : — " No allusion is made to the tongue of 



* Proc. Zool. Soc, 1872, pp. 787-789, five figs. 



f " Versuch einer vergleichen Anatomie des Verdauerungssystemes der 

 Vogel " — (i) Theil, Jen. Zeitschr f. Wissenschaft, Band xiii., Heft i, pp. 92- 

 171 (1879); (2) Theil, torn, cit., Heft 3, p. 339, &c. {1879). 



