On the Gallino-Gralline Group of Birds. 415 



Pheasant. I used to trap a good many up in Penungah, but 

 I never saw one except those I caught. They were very 

 plentiful, but they lie very close and seldom or never fly. I 

 obtained them on steep hill-sides, and have never found one 

 on any low-lying or flat ground. They are very pugnacious, 

 and their heads are consequently often raw and scarred, 

 while they would attack any other birds put in their cages. 

 I do not know what they live on, but they thrive well in 

 cajDtivity on padi, boiled rice, and fruit. They roost in trees, 

 and climb to their roost instead of flying. The hen bird has 

 no resemblance to the cock, being more like the female 

 of our common European Pheasant, though larger; it was 

 consequently supposed to be a distinct species, and was 

 described as such by Mr. Sharpe under the name of Lobio- 

 phasis castanei-caudatus . I never could keep any of the 

 hens alive, as they refused food and seemed to mope, and 

 would die in about two days. I am sorry I cannot give 

 you any better information about them, but I could only 

 gather such facts as I was able to observe myself.^' 



The Dyaks say when a Bulwer^s Pheasant flies a flood 

 is cominsr. 



XLIII. — An Attempt to Diagnose the Suborders of the Great 

 Gallino-Gralline Group of Birds by the aid of Osteological 

 Characters alone. By Henky Seebohm. 



Many opinions have been expressed, in ' The Ibis ' and else- 

 where, as to the new system which must replace the now 

 discarded Cuvierian classification of birds ; and occasionally, 

 as in Professor Huxley's celebrated paper on the taxonomic 

 value of the modifications of certain of the cranial bones, 

 the reasons upon which the opinions were based have been 

 given. 



I propose in the present paper to record certain facts in 

 the osteology of the Charadriidse and their nearest allies, 

 which facts possess at least this value — a knowledge of them 

 enables the student to diagnose the various suborders. These 



SER. V. VOL. VI. 2 G 



