Mr. W. K. Parker on Pterocles, Syrrhaptes, and Tinamus. 301 



the rudimentary condition of the spur, the Red Partridge (Perdix 

 rubra) ought to be placed with the Francolins in the typical group. 



" Still further, if we are to be guided by the structure of the ske- 

 leton, and especially by that of the skull, the dwarfs of the family, 

 the Quails (Coturnix), ought to stand in the same inner circle as the 

 gigantic species, the Turkey and the Peacock. 



"In a subtypical group all those forms ought to be placed, in 

 which, besides the quiet style of colouring, we find feebler legs, often 

 with the tarsi feathered, a more depressed pigeon-like form of the 

 body, and a skull with thinner and more fibrous walls, combined with 

 a much enlarged tympanic cavity. The spur is also obsolete. 



" The Grey Partridge (Perdix cinered) should be classed with this 

 subfamily — the Tetraonidce. 



" This beautiful and valuable bird is, as is especially shown in the 

 structure of its skull, much more nearly related to the Ptarmigans 

 (Lagopus) than to Perdix rubra, with its very thick-walled cellular 

 skull, small tympanic cavities, and rudimentary spur. 



" There is a group of very majestic birds inhabiting the warmer 

 parts of the New World, which differs so much from the Gallince 

 proper and from the Tetraonidce, that it must be considered to be- 

 long to an outer or aberrant place in the great gallinaceous family. 

 I allude to the Cracidce. 



" These birds, less ornate indeed than their normal relatives, are 

 nevertheless creatures of great interest, and of no little beauty, 

 whether we consider their form or their mode of colouring. 



" In this outer circle we place the Guans (Penelope), the Curas- 

 sows (Crax), the genera Ortalida, Opisthocomus, and others. 



"The mode in which the Cracidce differ from their terrestrial 

 typical congeners is highly interesting ; but as the present paper is 

 only intended to be an introductory outline, I shall not ' bestow all 

 my tediousness ' upon the Society by going into details now : suffice 

 it to say that they appear to me to connect the Gallinacece quite as 

 much with the Plantain-eaters (Musophagidce) as with the Pigeons. 



"The habit, which has given the family-name Rasores to the 

 Fowl tribe, curiously enough, does not attain its highest degree in 

 the typical species, but is developed in certain subtypical genera 

 which are found ranging from the Philippines through the islands of 

 the Indian Archipelago to Australia : these birds are the Megapodes*. 



" In the ' Mound- maker ' we have a bird which, whilst marvel- 

 lously like the Common Hen in gentleness of expression and neatness 

 of contour, has also a most striking isomorphic resemblance to certain 

 members of a very distantly related family, viz. the Gallinules. 



" My acquaintance with the structure of Talegalla was made six- 

 teen or seventeen years ago ; for at that time I met with and made 

 drawings of a precious skeleton of this bird in one of the drawers of 

 the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons ; it has not, however, 

 been noticed in the Catalogue. 



" Being therefore well and safely possessed of the fact that the 

 Brush Turkey (Talegalla) does not, in any essential point of struc- 

 * Gould (see Penny Cyclop., art. " Talegalla"). 



