20 DROMADID^] DROMAS 



Family II. DROMADHLE. 



Skull schizorhinal, nostrils pervious, perforated in the bill itself ; 

 no basipterygoid processes ; fifteen cervical vertebrae ; egg white, 

 laid in a hole dug in the sand. 



This Family contains only one genus and species, concerning the 

 systematic position of which there has been some controversy ; 

 Blyth considered that it was related to the Terns, chiefly on account 

 of its plumage, but later naturalists, such as Milne-Edwards, Gadow 

 and Fiirbringer, are all agreed as to placing it in the present Order, 

 though some uncertainty still exists as to its exact position. It is 

 perhaps best to devote a special family to its reception. 



Genus I. DROMAS. 



Type. 



Dromas, Paykull, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockh. xxvi, 



p. 188 (1805) D. ardeola. 



Bill stout and strong, considerably longer than the head, broader 

 than high at the base ; culmen only slightly curved ; nostrils at the 

 front end of a shallow depression near the base of the bill ; wings 



FIG. 101. Right foot of Dromas ardeola, from inside, x . 



long and pointed, first primary the longest ; tarsus long with trans- 

 verse scutes before and behind; hind toe present, three anterior 

 toes with a basal web between them reaching almost half their 

 length ; claw of the middle toe swollen and somewhat flattened, 

 pectinated or notched on the inner side feathers of the inter- 

 scapulary region elongated and decomposed. Only the one species 

 here described belongs to this genus. 



