79 



Suborder liv. Pandiones *. (Nearly Cosmopolitan.) 



Suborder Iv. Strigesf. (Cosmopolitan.) 

 Fam. 1. BuBONiD^. 

 Fam. 2. Stbigid^. 



Order XXVI. CORACIIFORMES. 



Suborder Ivi. Steatornithes J. (Neotropical.) 

 Suborder Ivii. Podargi §. (Australasian.) 

 Suborder Iviii. Leptosomati ||. (Lemurian.) 



* Differ from the Accipitres in having the outer toe reversible, and the proportions 

 of the tibia and tarsi are Owl-like; no after-shaft to the contour-feathers. Nest 

 a huge structure on rocks or buildings, or on a tree. Egg very richly coloured. 

 Young hatched covered with down. 



t Palate desmognathous ; basipterygoid processes present ; flexor lojigus hattucis 

 leading to hallux, _/?e,ror perforans digitorum to second, third, and fourth digits ; spinal 

 feather-tract well defined on the neck ; oil-gland present, but nude. {Cf. Seebohm, t. c. 

 p. 17.) Outer toe reversible ; eyes directed forwards and encircled by a facial disk ; 

 no after-shaft to the contour-feathers. (Sharpe, Cat. B. ii. p. 1 ; Barrows, S. N. Hist, 

 pp. 321-343.) Nest generally in hole of a tree or wall. Eggs white. Young, when 

 hatched, covered with down, and fed for a long time by the parent birds. 



X Palate desmognathous, the palatines meeting across the median line, each being 

 folded upon itself behind the junction, the lateral posterioi- processes absent ; basiterygoid 

 processes present ; dorsal vertebrfe opisthocoelous ; sternum with two notches on the 

 posterior margin ; hallux present, and connected with ihe flexor perfoirois digitorum; 

 spinal feather-tract well defined on the neck, but forked on the upper back ; oil-gland 

 not tufted; tail-feathers ten. {Cf. Parker, P. Z. S. 1889, p. 161; also cf. Seebohm, 

 t. c. p. 21, and Stejneger, S. N. Hist. pp. 371, 385.) Nest in a cave, a hard block 

 shaped like a cheese. Eggs four, white. Nestling unknown. 



§ Palate desmognathous ; basipterygoid processes absent ; hallux present, and con- 

 nected with the flexor jyerforans digitorum; spinal feather-tract well-defined on the 

 neck, but forked on the upper back ; oil-gland 7ione ; a powder-down patch on each side 

 of the rump. {Cf. Seebohm, t. c. p. 21; cf also Stejneger, t. c. p. 385.) A flat 

 nest of sticks on the fork of a branch. Eggs two, white. 



II Hallux connected with the flexor perforans digitorum, and not with the flexor 

 longus hallucis ; palate desmognathous ; vomer externally attenuated ; basipterygoid 

 processes rudimentary ; sternum with four notches on posterior margin, and having a 

 pointed episternal apophysis ; spinal feather-tract well defined on the neck by lateral 

 bare tracts, but dividing into two tracts on the upper back; oil-gland nude; ambiens 

 muscle absent ; tail-feathers 12 ; feet semi-zygodactyle ; a powder-down patch on each 

 side of the rump ; nasal apertures exposed and linear, situated in the middle of the 

 upper mandible, a horny plate across the nasal opening instead of a membrane. Nest, 

 in a hole, of rushes. Egg white (Milne-Edw. and Grand. Hist. Nat. Madag., Ois. 

 p. 227). Young, judging from the figure in Grandidier and Milne-Edwards's plate 84, 

 very Centropodiue in appearance. 



