69 



Suborder viii. Hemipodii *. (Sub-temperate aud Tropical 

 portions of the Old World.) 



Fam. TuBNiciD^. 



Suborder ix. Pterocletes f. (Sub-tropical portions of the 

 Pal^arctic Region, Indian Region, Ethiopian 

 Region.) 



Suborder x. Geophapes J. (Australasian.) 



ground and lay a number of eggs, which vary in type of coloration according to the 

 families. 



Palate schizognathous ; basipterygoid processes articulating with the pterygoids as 

 far from the quadrates as possible ; episternal process perforated to receive the feet of 

 the coracoids ; nasals holorhinal ; inner notch of sternum more than half the length of 

 the whole sternum ; hallux raised above the level of the front toes, and its basal 

 phalanx shorter than that of the hind toe. (Seebohm, Classif. B. p. 42.) Oil-gland 

 tufted. Young when hatched covered with patterned down, aud able to run in a few 

 hours. 



* Turnicomorphce, Huxley, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 303. Maxillo-palatines not coalesced 

 with each other or with the vomer ; nasals schizorhiual ; dorsal vertebrae heterocoelous ; 

 sternum with a deep notch on either side of the posterior margin ; no powder-down 

 patches ; oil-gland tufted ; spinal bare tract not reaching to the neck, though the three 

 other tracts do. {Cf. Seebohm, Classif. B. p. 39.) A well-developed episternum, 

 receiving the feet of the coracoids, but not perforated (W. R. Ogilvie Grant in ' Ibis ' 

 for July 1891). Nest noiie. Eggs numerous, double-spotted. Nestling Galline, 

 covered with down in a pattern. 



" Incomplete ' ^-Egitliognathism ' occurs in the ' Turnicimorphs ' (Hemijwdius and 

 Turnix). Here the vomerine cartilages are very large and completely ossified ; and the 

 broad double vomer has a septo-maxillary at each angle ; but these bones are only 

 strongly tied to the •' ali-nasal ' cartilage, and do not graft themselves upon it." 

 (Parker, Tr.-Linn. Soc. 2nd ser., Zool. p. 111.) 



t PteroclomorphcB, Huxley, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 303. Maxillo-palatines not coalesced 

 with each other or with the vomers ; nasals schizorhinal ; dorsal vertebrae hetero- 

 coelous ; sternum with two notches on each side of the posterior margin of the sternum, 

 (Cf. Seebohm, Classif. B. p. 39.) For a further summary of characters, cf. Stejneger, 

 Stand. Nat. Hist., Birds, p. 235. 



As far as their osteology goes the Sand-Grouse are very Colmnbine, and had they 

 occurred in a fossil state only they would probably have been placed in the Columbae 

 (W. R. Ogilvie Grant, in ' Ibis ' for July 1891). Oil-gland nude. No powder-down 

 patches ; no lateral bare tracts on the neck. Nest none. Eggs three, double-spotted, 

 equally rounded at both ends. Nestling Galline. Youog clothed with down hke the 

 young of a Partridge, but more variegated with white tufts. 



X The diagnostic characters of the Geophajies are not yet defined ; but the sternum 

 presents an aberrant Columbine form very similar to that of a Hemipode {cf, Ogilvie 

 Grant, in ' Ibis ' for Jidy 1891). Nest none. Egg white. Young hatched covered 

 with down and able to run soon after birth (cf. Gilbert's note on O. smithii in Gould's 

 Handb. B. Austr. ii. p. 134). Gilbert was one of Gould's best collectors and a man of 

 excellent observation. 



