146 Zoological Society : — 



neck is feathered nearly all over, while in the Boatbill and the 

 whole Heron-tribe there are large apteria on this part. A point of 

 some consequence to be cleared up, but about which I can say nothing 

 myself, is whether the Balceniceps is gifted or not with those curious 

 limited spots, clothed only with a peculiar sort of down (the " Puder- 

 dunenfluren " of Nitzsch), which characterize the Cancroma as well 

 as the Herons, but are wanting in the Scopus and the Storks. 



If, on the other hand, we now compare the beak of the Balceniceps 

 with that of the Scopus, we shall find a very remarkable accordance 

 in nearly all material points. In both of them the nostrils are shaped 

 exactly in the same way, being narrow, just perceptible slits. hiScopus 

 as well as in Balceniceps the culmen is separated throughout its whole 

 length from the sides of the bill by a deep narrow groove or furrow, 

 and terminates in a powerful hook, though it is conceded that the 

 hooked tip is proportionally not quite so large in the former. The 

 very sharp carina into which the culmen is compressed in the Scopus, 

 is indicated by a ridge along the broad culmen of the Balceniceps ; 

 the apex of the lower jaw is truncated in the same way in both birds ; 

 and notwithstanding the nearly perpendicular position of the sides of 

 the bill in the Scopus, the tomia are convex and bend inwards, as in 

 the Balceniceps. In a word, the minute details of the bills of these 

 two remarkable birds are, as far as I can see, very much the same ; 

 and indeed, if we fancy the beak of the Balceniceps so much com- 

 pressed that the ridge along the culmen becomes converted into a 

 sharp cutting edge, and the branches of the lower maxilla touch each 

 other in the anterior half of their length, it will assume most exactly 

 the shape of that of a gigantic but somewhat short-billed Scopus. 



With regard to the feet, it is true that the toes are connected by 

 a short interdigital membrane in the Scopus, while there is no ves- 

 tige of it in the Balceniceps. The importance of this difference may 

 perhaps be differently appreciated by zoologists, but I need not enter 

 into a discussion as to its value ; for, should the disappearance of 

 the interdigital membrane be considered a serious obstacle against 

 classing this bird with the Scopus, it must likewise divorce it from 

 Cancroma, where such a membrane also exists, being only somewhat 

 smaller than in the Scopus. For the rest, there is no material dif- 

 ference in the structure of the feet of the two birds, the hind toe 

 even in the Scopus being inserted at the level of the other toes. It 

 must, however, be confessed that in this oft-mentioned bird also 

 the middle nail is pectinated, though indeed not quite so regularly as 

 in the Boatbill. This is certainly a remarkable deviation from the 

 Balceniceps ; but it is obvious that this fact, at all events, cannot be 

 adduced as an argument in favour of a nearer relationship to the 

 Cancroma. 



In the ptilose of the Scopus seem to prevail nearly the same pecu- 

 liarities which have been mentioned as distinguishing the plumage 

 of the Balceniceps from that of the Boatbill ; and even in this respect 

 it certainly proves a nearer relation than the last-mentioned American 

 bird. With regard to the pterygose, the Scopus is known in a certain 

 point to deviate from, I beheve, all the other waders, the feathers 



