OA T-FO WLODONTORNITHES 649 







OAT-FOWL, a local name for the Snow-BuNTiNG ; OATSEED- 

 BIRD for the Yellow WAGTAIL. 



OCCIPUT, properly the hinder part of a bird's head, from the 

 crown backward, as opposed to SINCIPUT, but often used vaguely 

 for the whole cap. 



OCTOBER BIRD, in the Antilles used for the BOBOLINK, from its 

 arriving there in that month (B. Edwards, Hist. W. Ind. i. p. 99, note). 



OCYDROME, see WEKA. 



ODONTOGLOSS^E, Nitzsch's name in 1840 (Pterylographie, p. 

 191) for a group consisting of the genus Phwnicopterus (FLAMINGO). 



ODONTOLC^E, see ODONTORNITHES. 



ODONTOPHORIN^E, the supposed subfamily containing the 

 American QUAILS (cf. COLIN), upon the distinctness of which from 

 those of the Old World some systematists have laid unnecessary 

 importance. Dr. Coues (Key N.-Am. Birds, ed. 1884, p. 594) says 

 that he knows no characters to distinguish the true Quails from the 

 so-called OdontopJiorinas. 



ODONTORNITHES, 1 a term proposed in 1873 by Prof. 

 Marsh (Am. Journ. Sci. ser. 3, v. pp. 161, 162) to designate a 

 so-called Subclass of birds, consisting of the genera Hesperornis 

 and Ichthyornis (both of which had been named in the previous 

 year) from the cretaceous deposits of Kansas, and characterized 

 by the presence of teeth (Fig. 1). Its founder after- 

 wards subdivided this group (op. cit. x. pp. 403-408) 

 into the two Orders ODONTOLC^E and ODONTOTORIVLE ; 

 the former, represented by Hesperornis and characterized 

 by having the teeth (Fig. 2) placed in grooves, hetero- 

 coelous vertebrae, and the abortion of the carina sterni 

 with a generally Ratite conformation of the scapular Fig l 

 arch (Fig. 3) ; while the latter, typified by Ichthyornis, TOOTH or 

 was distinguished by the presence of distinct sockets HESPERORNIS. 

 for the teeth (Fig. 5), amphiccelous vertebrae (Fig. 6), Nicl ^ and 

 and the Carinate modification of the sternal apparatus. Lydekker's 

 Subsequent writers have disputed the expediency of Paleontology, 

 this proposal, for Prof. Cope in 1875 (Vert. Cretac. ' 

 Form, of the West, pt. iii. p. 245) and Prof. Seeley in 1876 (Q. Journ. 



1 Again indebted to Mr. Lydekker's kindness for an article worthy of the 

 closest attention, I wish to guard myself against its being taken as the expres- 

 sion of my own views on one of the hardest subjects that the ornithologist has 

 to consider, and one still open to various interpretations. A. N. 



