80 



Suborder lix. Coraciae*. (Palreogrean.) 



Suborder Ix. Halcyones t- (Cosmopolitan.) 



Suborder Ixi. Bucerotes|. (Etbiopian; Indian; Austro-Malaj'an.) 



Suborder Ixii. Upupae §. (Paleearctic ; Indian; Ethiopian.) 



Suborder Ixiii. Meropes ||. (Palaeogsean.) 



* Feet anisodactyle ; no powder-down patches ; nostrils placed near the base of the 

 upver mandible and hidden by bristles. Hallux connected with the fiexor perforans 

 digitorum, and not with the j^ea or longus hallvcis ; palate desmognathous ; vomer exter- 

 nally 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. Young hatched 

 helpless. Nest in hole of tree. Egg white. 



t Palate desmognathous ; basipterygoid processes absent ; CEeca none ; accessory 

 semitendinosus muscle absent; feet syndactyle ; hallux connected with the ^e.ro?* 

 perforans digitorum ; no aftershaft to the contour-feathers ; spinal feather-tract well 

 defined on neck, and not forked on the back ; ventral feather-tract not only split in the 

 centre but also on each side of the breast by bare tracts ; oil-gland tufted ; feet ani- 

 sodactyle ; tail-feathers 12 (except in Tamjsiptera, 10). Nest, a rough construction of 

 fish-bones, or none; situated in a hole. Eggs white. Yoimg hatched naked and 

 helpless. 



\ Palate desmognathous ; basipterygoid processes present; episternal process perforated 

 to receive the feet of the coracoids ; sternum with two posterior notches ; hallux pre- 

 sent, and connected with the Jfcxor perforans digitorum instead of the fiexor longus 

 hallucis ; tail-feathers 10 ; carotids one, or two (in Buceros, none) ; spinal feather-tract 

 not defined on the neck, which has no lateral bare tracts either ; no aftershaft to the 

 feathers ; cseca none ; bill with a casque, more or less developed, generally cellular, 

 sometimes solid {Bhinoi^lax). Nest none. Female enclosed in hole of tree during 

 incubation and fed by male. Egg white. Young hatched perfectly naked and fed 

 by the male, who brings food in a fig-like envelope for the support of the female and 

 single youngster. 



§ Palate desmognathous ; episternal process perforated to receive the feet of the 

 coracoids ; manubrial process pointed ; sternum with two deep notches on the posterior 

 margin ; deep plantar tendons free ; tarsus with the planta scutellate (Alaudine) ; left 

 carotid only present ; spinal feather-tract forked on the upper back ; oil-gland tufted ; 

 caeca none. Nest in hole of a tree or wall. Eggs white or whitish. Female almost 

 entirely fed by male during incubation. {Cf. Murie, Ibis, 1873, pp. 181-211, pis. vi., vii.) 



II Palate desmognathous ; basipterj^goid processes absent ; episternal process forked 

 (as in most of the Passeres), and perforated to receive the feet of the coracoids ; 

 sternum with four notches on its posterior margin ; hallux present, and connected 

 with the fiexor perforans digitorum, and not with the fiexor longus hallucis ; caeca 

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

 oil-gland nude ; tail-feathers 10, Nest none, a hole being tunnelled in a bank by the 

 birds themselves, as with the Kingfishers. Egg white. Young, when hatched, 

 naked, the feathers, when developed, inclosed in a sheath until nearly fullgrown, as 

 with Kins:fishers and other Picarice. 



