ShUKEI-DT : OSTKOLOGV Ol TIIK PsilTACI. 419 



8. Os furculum conca\ cil Ibrwaids as well as inwards ; usually 

 united, mesially, below, though the reverse may be the case. 



9. Fibula markedly short. 



10. Tarso-metatarsus short ; the fourth toe i)ermanently turned 

 backwards, and articulating with a double facet. 



TJic Avian Ajjiiiif/es of tJic Fsittaci, 

 Not as yet ])Ositi\ely known ; most generally suspected of having 

 kinship with the Raf'tort-s, and b\ Huxley, with his group the Coc- 

 cvcoMOKPH.K, as well. Such speculation may be entirely erroneous, 

 however, and after all the nearest kin to the Psittaci may be the Owls 

 (.S'//-4'-^x),agroup ha\ing no speciallyclose relationship with the Raptores. 



Observations upon the Osteology of the Owl I^arrot. 



(^Sf/-/i:;ops hahropiiliis. ) 



Various authors have given us brief accounts of the anatomical struc- 

 ture of this very remarkable family of the Psittaci, but a complete 

 account of its morphology is yet in demand. Several years ago, Pro- 

 fessor Fiirbringer considered it to be one of the primitive Parrot-forms 

 (Journ. fiir Orn., 1889, pp. 239-241), and Garrod, Blanchard, and 

 A. Milne-Edwards, have each and all contril)uted at different times 

 something towards an understanding of its anatomy. Newton in his 

 " Dictionary of Birds" under the article " Kakapo " gives an excel- 

 lent brief article u[)on its histor\-, and Sir W. Ikiller's "Birds of New 

 Zealand," has a very consideraljle account of the same. 



Xewton remarks in the Dictionary that there " can be scarcely any 

 doubt as the propriety of considering this genus the type of a separate 

 family of Psittaci ; but whether it stands alone, or some other forms 

 (Pezoporus or Geopsittacus,^ for example ; which in coloration and 

 habits present some curious analogies) should be placed with it, must 

 await future determination." 



Garrod has said,'-* "As a Parrot it is not so strikingly peculiar as 

 many seem to think. Its wings are useless, and the carina sterni is 

 correspondingly reduced, it is true ; but as points of classificational 

 imjiortance, I regard these as insignificant. The ])oints of special 

 anatomical interest which it does possess, however, are i)articularly 

 instructive. 



* " Dr. Reichenow (Journ. fiir Orn., 1S81, pp. 13-16) boldly unites tliem in a 

 single family, but in that case it should bear the name of Pezopondte.^' 

 'Coll. Sci. Mem., p. 257. 



