168 SHOULDER-GIRDLE AND BREAST-BONE. 



parts of the Shoulder-girdle are slenderer than in the Falconinse, and the fiurcula, especially, 

 is feebler and less indebted to the prae-coracoid segment; the inter-clavicle is aborted. In 

 Athene noctua the clavicles do not meet, but terminate in sharp points below. In Serpenfarius the 

 scapula is narrow, and much straighter than in the other Raptores, except Elanus an Egyptian Kite; 

 yet the coracoids of the Secretary are very stout, as in the Vultures, but as in the Cariama, they 

 do not meet below ; its furcula has the rami less bent ; and there is a large inter-clavicle, which 

 first articulates and then coalesces with the apex of the sternal keel. In the Cariama the scapula 

 (PL XIV, fig. 11, sc.) is the precise counterpart of that of a Falcon' or a Vulture (e. y. Percnop- 

 terus), but the coracoid (cr.) is like that of an Owl ; the meso-coracoid ridge on the inner side 

 being sharp and free ; and the epicoracoid angle (e. cr.) being scooped, which scooping is con- 

 tinued far up the outer edge of -the bone; the meso-coracoid process is also very large. I 

 am certain that no anatomist could tell either the fureula or the coracoid of this Bird from that 

 of an Owl, supposing them to be presented to him loose, and not labelled. The pra3-coracoid 

 ledge of the furcular ramus (p. cr.) is, as in the Owls, rather flat; the rami (cl.) are very flat, very 

 narrow in their lower third, meet at an acute angle to form a V-shaped bone, and have scarcely 

 a trace of an inter-clavicle ; they are connected to the angle of the keel by ligament, at the 

 same relative distance from and height above the angle of the keel. 1 



There is one most unique character in the Shoulder-girdle of the Cariama ; for although the 

 clavicle is close at hand it has not supplied the meso-scapular segment (in. sc. s.) with bone, as 

 usual, but this part is a little, distinct bone, as in certain mammals. 



Most of the Eagles and even Vultures agree in the form of their Sternum with Nisus 

 communis (PL XV, figs. 7 and 8) ; 'but the rostrum is generally smaller, and in the larger types the 

 keel is less deep relatively, being very small in proportion to the enormous pectoral muscles : the 

 keel retreats in all, but most in the large Vultures. The xiphoid region is generally like that of 

 Nisus ; but, as a rule, the spaces are fenestras in the adult: they are very large in Gyps fulvus ; 

 in Polyborus caracara and Cathartes californiensis the notches do not close ; in Aquila Pennantii, 

 Cathartes' aura, and Elanus melanopterus, there is an outer fenestra and an inner notch. In 

 Sarcoramphus papa and the Owls (Plate XIV, figs. 13, 14), there are five bars and four notches 

 behind ; the notches are deepest, and the bars narrowest in Athene ; and the opposite to this is seen 

 in Strix flammea. In Aquila chrysaetos and in Halicetus the fenestra are apt to close up. In the 

 Vulturina3, Falconinae, and Striginse, the xiphoid region is almost transverse (see Plate XIV, figs. 

 13, and Plate XV, fig. 8) ; but in Gyps fulvus the middle xiphoid runs backwards as a triangular 

 tongue of bone. This character is intensified in Secretarius, which has also two very minute xiphoid 

 notches. In the Cariama the Sternum is still more elongated and narrowed (Plate XIV, fig. 11), 

 and the keel, which is very large in Serpentarius, is twice the relative size of that of Gyps. This 

 length, and the depth of the notch behind, gives a Gallinaceous character to it ; but in that group 

 it is the inner notch which is large ; whereas in the Cariama it is the outer ; for on holding up 

 the bone to the light the inner fenestrae can be seen (fig. 1, i. x. f.) although filled in by periosteal 

 layers. The middle xiphoid (fig. 12, m. x.) becomes very narrow where the keel is dying out, 



I have notes and sketches of the digestive organs of the Cariama; they answer not to those of 

 the Hawk or the Vulture, but to those of the Owl ; the tongue corresponds to that the Hawk and Owl ; 

 and so do the organs of voice : there is a pair of fan-shaped inferior laryngeal muscles, which, some 

 at least, of the Vultures do not possess. The skull and face are of those of an enfeebled Falcon ; 

 so that this is a very generalised bird, and probably of very ancient descent. 



