120 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



ingly would now relegate it to that order. It is doubtless an extremely generalized 

 form, the survival of a very ancient type, whence several groups may have sprung; 

 and whenever tlie secret it lias to tell shall be revealed, a considerable stej) in the phy- 

 logeny of birds can scarcely fail to follow." Nevertheless, the seriema is also evi- 

 dently allied to the cranes, and until the question concerning its relationship to the 

 African secretary-bird be finally settled, we may provisionally keep it where it has 

 been placed liy most authors ; though we confess the belief that it has passed the 

 dividing line, and should properly be placed with its African cousin among the ' birds 



^i',P^^k^ 



Fifi. 07. — Oiriomo eriilata, serlemn. 



of prey,' both forming distinct families of a super-family named as .above. The vis- 

 ceral anatomy is shown by :Martin and Gadow to be essentially crane-like, correspond- 

 ing closely with the arrangement found in Psophia, the gizzard having one radiating 

 tendinous jiatch on each side, and the intestines give off two long casca, charactei-s 

 not shared by the Raptorial birds. The ]>tcrylosis, according to Nitzsch, has much 

 that is pecnli.ar about it, but it most closely approaches that of Psophia and Gms. 

 The oil gland is entirely naked, even on the marailla. But the osteology, on the other 

 hand, tends toward the Raptores. Not only the sternal apparatus shows an approach 

 in that direction, but especially the palate, which even Huxley himself admits is not 



