PICI. 



15 



the distinction was emphasized by Kitchen Parkei*, who separated 

 Woodpeckers and Wrynecks as Saurognathce, on account of what 

 he regarded as the reptilian characters presented by the bones of 

 the palate. The view that Woodpeckers and Wrynecks form a 

 separate group has been accepted by many recent writers, notably 

 by Sundevall *, Sclater t, Newton +, Sharpe §, and Gadow ||, though 

 not by Garrodll, by PiirbriDger **, nor by Seebobm ft- The 

 following are the principal characters : — 



Vomer represented by several distinct paired lateral rods ; 

 maxillo-palatines small, widely distant from each other (fig. 9). 



Fig. 9.— Palate of Gecinus viridis (Huxley, P.Z. S. 1867, p. 448). Pnvc, 

 premasillse ; Mxp, maxillo-palatine ; PI, palatine ; Vo, the osBieles which 

 appear to represent the vomer. 



The flexor longus liallucis, after sending off a vinculum to 

 the flexor |9er/oraj?s difjitorum, is divided, one branch going to 

 the fourth toe, the other being again divided to supply the first 

 and second, whilst the flexor perforcuis digitornm runs to the third 

 alone (see fig. 22, p. 80). The same arrangement is found in 

 the Barbets, Indicators, Toucans, and some other families. 



Sternum with two notches behind on each side of the keel ; 

 the mauubrial process bifurcate as in the Passeres. The femoro- 

 caudal and semitendinosus muscles present ; ambiens and accessory 

 femoro-caudal absent. Caeca wanting or quite rudimentary. In 

 pterylosis, the spinal feather-tract is well defined on the back and 

 forked on the lower, not on the upper back. Oil-gland tufted, not 

 nude as in Passeres. 



* 'Tentamen,' p. 72. + 'Ibis,' 1880, pp. 350, 402. 



I Article " Ornithology," Encyclopiedia Brit. p. 47. 



§ ' Eeview of Eecent Attempts to Classify Birds,' p. 84. (The Neotropical 

 Buccones and Galbulte are here associated.) 



II Bronn, Klassen u. Ordn. des Thier-Reichs, vi, 4, p. 301. 



^ P. Z. S. 1878, p. 935. *» ' Untersuchungen,' ii, p. 1392. 



■ft ' Classification of Bii'ds,' p. G ; Supplement, p. 23. 



