PALAMEItEID^. 



Suborder I. PALAMEDEiE. 



Beside the absence of uncinate processes to the ribs, a unique 

 character among birds, the Screamers are distinguished from the 

 other Chenomorphse by the median basipterygoid processes, the 

 absence of a ventral and almost of any other bare tract, the tarsus 

 being less than one and a half times the length of the femur, 

 reticulated in front and behind, the anterior toes being connected by 

 rudimentary webs, and by non -laminated margins of the bill. 



In external appearance the Screamers present the foUowiug 

 features : — Head small, neck covered with small soft feathers. 

 Bill of a gallinaceous shape, much shorter than the head, with the 

 base rather thick, and covered with soft skin ; nostrils oblong, 

 broad, situated rather lower down ; dertrum short, convex, with 

 the tip obtuse, bent down. 



Wings large, rounded, broad, with the secondaries very large * ; 

 carpal portion with two spurs, the anterior one much the largest. 



Tail of 14 or 12 feathers, broad, nearly half the length of the 

 wing. 



Feet thick, moderately high ; tibiae naked inferiorly ; toes very 

 long, the median one subequal to the tarsus, united at the base by 

 a short membrane ; feet covered with small hexagonal scales, dis- 

 posed transversely on the toes ; nails rather strong, the posterior 

 one the largest ; hallux long and strong. 



The Screamers are confined to the Neotropical Region. 



One family only. 



Family PALAMEDEID/E. 



Key to the Genera. 



a. Lores feathered ; a long frontal horn ; head 



not crested ; tail-feathers 14 1. Palamedea, p. 2. 



b. Lores naked ; no frontal horn ; head ci'ested ; 



tail-feathers 12 2. Chauna, p. 4. 



1. PALAMEDEA. 



Type. 



Anhima, Briss. Orn. v. p. 518 (1760). 



Palamedea, Linn. S. N. i. p. 232 (1766) P. cornuta. 



Range. Guiana, Amazonia, and Ecuador. 



* It is not quite certain whether the Screamers are aquintoeubital, as stated 

 by Gadow (P. Z. S. 1892, p. 243), or quintociibitAl, as more recently asserted by 

 Beddard and Mitchell (P. Z. S. 1894, p. 636). 



