Ardeino- Anser'me Assemblage of Birds. 93 



ceded that whilst the Aiiseres resemble the Gallinte iu many 

 points, they differ from the Herodiones and their allies in an 

 extraordinary manner. In the highly developed condition 

 of the newly-hatched young the Anseres agree with the 

 Gallinse and differ from the other desmognathous groups. 

 The thin maxillo-palatine plates of the Anseres and of the 

 Gallinae, thovigh coalesced in the former and not in the latter 

 birds, are in many respects more like each other than the 

 thick spongy maxillo-palatine masses of the Herodiones and 

 Steganopodes. Nevertheless the line between the Anseres 

 and the Ciconiidse is so narrow that it is a disputed point to 

 which group the Phoenicopteridse belong (Gadow, J. f. Orn. 

 1877, p. 382). 



It seems to me that the gaps which separate the orders of 

 birds from each other are so very nari'ow, that it will require 

 much sifting of the characters by which the various sub- 

 orders may be diagnosed before satisfactory combinations 

 can be discovered for the diagnosis of the larger groups. 



The Ardeino-Anserine order of birds may be divided into ^j 

 six suborders, which may be distinguished from each other | 

 by the following osteological characters : — ' 



a. Angle of mandible produced and recurved, 

 a'. Bifurcation of nasals holorliinal. 



d^. No ribs furnished with uncinate processes . . Palamedeje. 

 h^. Several ribs furnished with uncinate processes. 

 a^. Basipterygoid processes articulating with 

 the pterygoid as near the palatines as 



possible Anseres. 



6'. No basipterygoid processes Phcenicoptebi. 



h^. Bifurcation of nasals schizorhinal Platale^. 



h. Angle of mandible truncated. 



c\ Tarsus much longer than the outer digit Herodiones. 



d^. Tarsus shorter than the outer digit Steganopodes. 



Palamede^. 



The Screamers are very remarkable birds. Only three or 



four species are known, which are all peculiar to South 



America. They appear to be archaic species, which differ 



from every other existing bird in a very important character. 



