CATALOGUE 



BIRDS. 



Order VI. PTEROCLETES. 



Maxillo-palatines not coalesced with one another or with the 

 vomer ; nasals schizorhinal ; dorsal vertebrae heteroccelous ; two 

 notches ou each side of the posterior margin of the sternum, the 

 inner notch sometimes reduced to a foramen. 



Bill as in tlie Gallinaj, but not so strongly developed. 



Feet with three toes only, or with the hallux present in a rudi- 

 mentary condition. 



Oil-gland nude. 



The lateral bare tracts extend to the base of the neck only ; well- 

 developed aftcrshafts to the feathers of the body. Fifth secondary 

 quill wanting. 



Young covered with down, and able to run in a few hours. 



Eggs three, double-spotted, and equally rounded at hotli ends. 

 Nest none. 



The general structure of the " Sand-Grouse," or better still, as 

 ]Iuxley calls them, " Pigeon-Grouse," presents many striking 

 Columbine characters, such as in the vocal organs, pterygoids, basi- 

 pterygoid processes, shoulder-girdle, sternum, and especially the 

 great deltoid process of the humerus ; but the digestive organs are 

 Galline. 



On the whole these birds form a well-marked order intermediate 

 between the Cohanbce and Qallina. 



Mostly migratory ; inhabiting Africa, South Europe, and Asia. 



VOL. XXII. B 



