2228 THE BUSTARDS, THICKNEES, AND CRANES 



nights. A rapid runner, the common thicknee is likewise a bird of strong flight, 

 frequently flying at some considerable height above the ground. The two blotched 

 or streaked eggs are laid in England upon bare stony ground, with which their col- 

 oration harmonizes so exactly as to render them practically invisible; but in India, 

 where the number is occasionally three, the hollow is lined with a little grass. 

 Both sexes take part in incubation; and if a sitting bird be disturbed, it will imme- 

 diately run off, leaving the eggs to be protected by their resemblance to the sur- 

 roundings. After running a short distance, the bird itself will generally lie down 

 and skulk, with its outstretched neck closely applied to the ground, and in this posi- 

 tion is most likely to be mistaken for a large stone, unless its large eye should 

 happen to attract the spectator's attention. 



THE SERIEMAS 

 Family CA PI A MID^E 



The remarkable birds known as seriemas, which are represented by two species, 

 assigned to as many genera, are confined to South America, and are some of those 

 puzzling forms which render systematic ornithology so difficult and unsatisfactory. 

 Various views have obtained as to the relationship of these birds, some ornitholo- 

 gists believing that they are allied to the secretary vulture. On this view they 

 were at one time placed among the Accipitrines; but as they possess the slit 

 (schizognathous) palate, which is the older type, it is clear that if they have rela- 

 tion to the secretary vulture, the latter (as Mr. Beddard suggests) must be trans- 

 ferred here, as being a more specialized form. Many ornithologists are, however, 

 now of opinion that the nearest allies of the seriemas are the rails, bustards, and 

 cranes, although there is still much divergence of view as to their exact position. 

 Mr. Sclater's plan of placing them between the bustards and cranes, in near associ- 

 ation with the trumpeters, which is followed here, must, however, be regarded as a 

 more or less provisional measure; and it must be confessed that the inclusion of 

 these two families in the Alectorides very seriously interferes with any attempt to 

 define that group. In any case, a linear arrangement of the members of this and 

 the allied order cannot possibly express their true relationships. While" agreeing 

 with the bustards in their holorhinal skulls, and the absence of tracts bare of 

 plumage on the sides of the neck, the seriemas differ by the presence of four toes, 

 and by the breastbone having but one notch, as well as by the presence of a naked 

 oil gland; the latter being almost the only character by which the group can be dif- 

 ferentiated from the rails, in which the oil gland is tufted. 



The Brazilian seriema (Cariama cristata), from Southeastern Brazil, is a long- 

 legged, and somewhat long-necked bird, of somewhat larger size than a bittern, 

 and with a peculiarly -upright carriage. The head is large, and the beak compara- 

 tively short, broad, and depressed, with its tip bent down somewhat after the fash- 

 ion of that of a vulture. In the leg the tibia is bare for some distance, the 

 metatarsus is covered in front with scutes, and the short toes are provided with 



