230 Mr. R. W. Shufeldt on the 



after the fashion of other Raptores ; as we pass next to con- 

 sider Elanus, however^ we find that it is absolutely non-des- 

 mognathous, as its maxillo-palatines neither unite across the 

 middle line nor corae in contact either with the vomer or with 

 the nasal septum. Thus this Kite^ in so important a particular, 

 forms an exception to Huxley^s definition for his Aetomorphae. 

 Elanus difi'ers in its skeleton in many other respects from the 

 corresponding parts of this portion of their structure in both 

 Ictinia and Elanoides. In it the basipterygoid processes are 

 present, and in it we are at once struck with the notably 

 broad post-palatines, which are comparatively narrow in 

 Ictinia. In this last-named Kite, too, the mandible is fairly 

 strong and lacks a ramal vacuity upon either side, whereas 

 the bone in Elanus is characterized by being most remarkably 

 weak and slender in its structure. 



In all of these birds the inferior clavicular union is seen to 

 be more feeble than it is in any others of the Accipitres, and 

 the furcula is further characterized by having the hypo- 

 cleidium absent in Elanus and only rudimentary in Ictinia. 

 In all, again, the scapular process of a coracoid does not reach 

 the clavicle. 



The sternum, varying to no small degree in its general 

 pattern in all these Kites, always has its manubrium very 

 small, and the carina may extend the entire length of the 

 sternal body, as in Ictinia and Elanoides, or the reverse of 

 this may be the case, as in Elanus. 



The xipho-sternum may be profoundly notched as in Ictinia, 

 or once-fenestrated upon either side of the keel [Elanus), or 

 it may exhibit a shallow emargination upon either side only, 

 as in Elanoides. 



As in other representatives of this group of birds, the ribs 

 and vertebrae are very liable to vary, and that even in the 

 same species. Coming to the pelvis, we find in these Kites, 

 as a fairly constant character, that the ilia are not in contact 

 anteriorly over the sacral crista, nor in the post-acetabular 

 region is the bone, as a whole, especially bent downwards 

 and forwards, as we so commonly see it in Bufeo. The post- 

 pubic element of the pelvis is always interrupted. 



