240 - EUKYPYGID^. 



Family II. EURYPYGID^. 



Palate schizognathous, 



Nasals schizorhinal. 



No occipital foramina, basipterygoid processes, or supraorbital 

 impressions present. 



Eectrices 12, primaries 10. 



Caeca moderately long, shorter than in the Gruidse. 



Oil-gland nude. 



Sternum with a notch on each side of the posterior margin. 



Powder-down patches present. 



None of the bare tracts of the body extending beyond the base of 

 the neck. 



Femoro-caudal muscle, accessory femoro-caudal, semitendiuosus 

 and accessory semitendinosus muscles, all present. 



Bill like that of a Eail, a little longer than the head, with 

 the nostrils horizontal and pervious, but with a slight opercular 

 membrane above, situated in a groove which reaches nearly to the 

 terminal fourth of the bill ; the lower mandible laterally grooved. 



Tibia bare for more than half its length. 



Inner secondaries reaching nearly to the tips of the primaries. 



Egg like that of Scolopax rusticula. 



Nestling Plover-like and covered with down. 



Young fed by the parents for some weeks after they are 

 hatched. 



[Cf. Seebohm, Classif. B. p. 39; Btejneger, Stand. Nat. Hist. 

 Birds, p. 116 ; Sharpe, Classif. B. p. 74.] 



1. EURYPYGA. „ 



Type. 



Eurypyga, Illiger, Prodr. p. 257 (1811) E. helias. 



Helias, Rajinesqiie, Analyse, p. 71 (1815) E. heUas. 



Range. Central America from Guatemala southwards to Ecuador, 

 Colombia, Venezuela, Amazonia, Central Brazil, and Bolivia. 



1. Eurypyga helias. 



Sun-bittern. 



Ardea helias, Pall. Neue Nord. Beytr. ii. p. 48, tab. iii. (1781). 



Le Caural de Cayenne, Dauhent. PI. Enl. ix. pi. 782. 



Le Caurale ou petit Paon des Roses, Buff. Hist. Nat. Ois. viii. 

 p. 169, pi. xiv. (1781). 



Scolopax Solaris, Bodd. Tahl. PL Enl. p. 48 (1783). 



Caurale Snipe, Lath. Gen. Syn. iii. pt. 1, p. 156 (1785). 



Eurypyga helias, Illiyer, Prodr. p. 257 (1811) ; Gray, Gen. B. iii. 

 p. 554 (1847) ; Reichenb. Handb., Fulic. tab. cxxiv. figs. 1219- 

 1220 (1852) ; Bp. Consp. ii. p. 144 (1857) ; B. C. Taylor, Ibis, 

 1864, p. 95 (Oronoco River) ; Schl. Mus. Pays-Bas, Ralli, p. 73 



