OSTEOLOGY OF BIRDS 25 1 



According to Newton "the Phoenicopteri so much resemble the- 

 Anseres in certain points that they should form a suborder of that 

 group, equal in value to the true Anseres and the Palamedeae.'' 

 This opinion was published in 1884, while two years previous Dr 

 Reichenow had advanced a scheme of avian classification in which 

 he widely separates the flamingoes ^ from the Anseres, which last 

 he arrays thus : 



Order V Lamellirostres 

 Family 11 ]\Iergidae 



12 Anatidae 



13 Anseridae 



14 Cygnidae 



15 Palamedeidae 



Again in 1903 Dr Coues in his fifth edition of the Key to NortJi 

 American Birds presents the following scheme. 



ORDER SUBORDERS FAMILIES SUBFAMILIES- 



fi Odontoglossae. . . . Phoenicopteridae 



[ (Grallatorial Anseres) 



I f Cygninae 



Lamellirostres -] I Anserinae 



2 Anseres Anatidae. ....... -j Anatinae 



I Fuligulinae 



[ [ Merginae 



So far as the writer has been able to discover, that distinguished 

 taxonomer did not publish any view he may have held upon the 

 place occupied by the Palamedeae. 



In 1887, Mr Ridgway in his Manual has the one family Anatidae 

 contain the ducks, geese, and swans, for which no subfamily divi- 

 sions are made. They are the only forms placed in the order 

 Anseres, the family Phoenicopteridae following in the order 

 Odontoglossae, and no opinion expressed in reference to the 

 screamers. 



In the Standard Natural History (1885), Dr Leonard Stejneger 

 ofifers the following : 



Order VIII Chenomorphae 

 Super family 11 Anhimoideae 

 12 Anatoideae 

 Family i Cnemiornithidae 



2 Cereopsidae 



3 Anseranatidae 



4 Plectropteridae 



5 Anatidae 

 Superfamily 13 Phoenicopteroideae 



Family l Palaeolodontidae 

 2 Phoenicopteridae 



' Placed in order VII, (Gressores) with the ibises, storks, Scopus, Balaeniceps, and the- 

 herons. 



