33 



Order VII. GALLINtE. 



^laxillo-palatines not coalesced ■with one another or with the 

 vomer * ; nasals holorhinal ; true basipterygoid processes absent, but 

 represented by sessile facets situated far forward on the sphenoidal 

 rostrum. 



Episternal process of the sternum perforated to receive a process 

 from the base of the coracoids ; two deep notches on each side of the 

 posterior margin of the sternum ; external xiphoid processes bent 

 outwards over the hinder ribs and with expanded extremities. 



Bill short and stout, the eulmen arched and overhanging the 

 mandible. 



Hallux always present, but varying in size and position. 



Oil-gland tufted, nude or absent. WeU-developed after-shafts to 

 the feathers of the body. Fifth secondary quill present t. 



Xestling bom covered with down and able to run a few hours 

 after being liatclied. 



Range. Cosmopolitan. 



Key to the Families. 



I. Hallux raised above the level of the other 



toes. (Alectoropodes.) 

 a. Nostrils wholly, tarsi half or entirely 



hidden by feathers and never armed 



with spurs ; toes naked and pectinate 



or feathered Tetraonidse, p. 34. 



h. Nostrils never hidden by feathers ; tarsi 



partially or wholly i, and toes entirely 



naked ; the latter never pectinate, the 



former often armed with spurs PhasianidSB, p. 94. 



II. Hallux on a level with the other toes. 



(Pekistekopodes.) 



c. Oil-gland nude MegapodiidaB,p.445. 



d. Oil-gland tufted Cracidse, p. 473. 



Suborder I. ALECTOROPODES. 



Inner notch of the sternum more than half the length of the 

 entire sternum. 



The hallux raised above the level of the other toes, and its 

 basal phalanx much shorter than that of the third toe. 



* In some of the Cracida they are said to unite in the middle line with an 

 ossified septum ; but I have not been able to find this in any specimens 

 examined. 



+ tiaid to be absent in Meqapodius ntbrifrons ( = ^f. eremifd) : see Selater Ibis 

 1890. p. 81. " 



{ The upper part of the tarsus is feathered in Lerua. 

 VOL. IXII. B 



