46o BUSTARDS, THICKNEES, AND CRANES. 



down and skulk, with its outstretched neck closely applied to the ground, and in 

 this position 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 Caeiamidah. 



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 un- 

 satisfactory. Various views have obtained as to the relationship of these birds, 

 some ornithologists 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 

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

 transferred here, as being a more specialised 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 association with the trumpeters, which is followed here, must, how- 

 ever, 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 relation- 

 ships. 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 breast-bone 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 differentiated from the rails, in which the oil-gland is 

 tufted. 



The Brazilian seriema (Cariama cristata), from South-Eastern 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 

 comparatively short, broad, and depressed, with its tip bent down somewhat after 

 the fashion 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 

 strong curved claws, which also recall those of an accipitrine. A tuft of bristly 

 feathers metatarises from the base of the bill, while there is also a short crest on the 

 neck, and the feathers of the breast are lanceolate. The wing is short, although hard 

 and powerful, with the fourth and fifth quills the longest, and the secondaries greatly 

 elongated; the tail being long, graduated, and composed of ten feathers. The 

 mternal anatomy comes nearest to that of the cranes, with some approach to the 

 rails. In general colour, the plumage is grey, each feather being marked with 

 zigzag darker lines on the upper-parts ; the elongated feathers of the head and 

 neck are blackish brown ; the quills are brown, with white bands on the inner 



