184 Dr. J. Murie on the Upupidae. 



palatine is elongated into a slender pointed process. The 

 septum is ossified and unites with the maxillo-palatines, which 

 form a transverse bony rafter across the palate/' 



Several other writers incidentally refer Upupa to the Horn- 

 bill family ; but it is not necessary to refer to them. 



2. Considered in the light of a distinct group. — Under the 

 present section I may as lief refer to the able paper of Mr. 

 Strickland* — though, according to his own showing, the Upu- 

 pidee as consistently belong to the next. He first gives rea- 

 sons wherefore the genus Irrisor, Less., ought to be adopted, 

 and then compares agreement and differences between Upupa 

 and Irrisor. The Hoopoe's ground-habits are opposed to those 

 of the arboreal Iwisor ; but notwithstanding this and contrast 

 in the plumage, he sees close links of affinity between them. 

 The similarity in the structure of their beak and tongue, he 

 holds, is important. The lower mandible is solid, not grooved 

 for the reception of a lengthened tongue as in the Nectarinidse. 

 Both upper and lower mandible coincidently in the Hoopoe 

 and Irrisor have apically and superficially a peculiar grooving, 

 single, however, in the former, and double in the latter bird. 

 They both nidificate in hollow trees. Wings similar, primaries 

 graduated, 4th and 5th longest. There is a certain counterpart 

 in the white patches on the remiges and rectrices, although the 

 style of colouring and difference in the form of the tail suggest 

 generic and, occasionally, specific importance. With the feet 

 he admits a difficulty, though he thinks these neutralized by 

 beak &c. He places Upupa and Irrisor in juxtaposition, 

 family Upupidse, subfamilies Upupinse and Irrisorinse. 



In reply to the question of the position of Upupidae he re- 

 marks : — " They certainly are a very insulated group, forming 

 what in geology would be termed a remote outlier ; and it is 

 not easy to say to which of the more continental masses they 

 most nearly approximate." He considers them to be remote 

 from the South- American family Certhiidre, the likeness being 

 only one of analogy. He concludes, "this question can- 



* "On the structure and affinities of Upupa, Linnaeus, and Irrisor, 

 Lesson," Trans. Brit. Assoc. 1843, also Ann. Nat. Hist. vol. xii. p. 238, 

 and collected works, " Memoirs," 1858, p. 418. 



