102 PTERYLOGRAPHY. 



9. CalyptorltyncJtus VIG., WAGL. According to my examination of P. leacldi and funereus 

 the pterylosis has exactly the form of that of the Platycerci, and consists of narrow tracts two 

 feathers in width, with a distinctly separated narrow outer branch on the inferior tract, a 

 remarkably broad inferior space, and, what is most singular, a narrow, simple humeral tract. By 

 the side of the furcate rump-tract there are powder-down feathers, although the oil-gland is 

 distinctly present. Like the following group, this has also a large circular vertical space com- 

 mencing immediately behind the feathers of the crest, which stand in two transverse rows on the 

 forehead, and extending to the occiput. In the wings I found twenty-two remiges, of which the 

 first are very acute and have the inner web narrowed for more than half its length ; the third is 

 the longest. 



10. PlyctolopJius VIG. (Cacatua WAGL.) The true Cockatoos, of which I have examined 

 P. cristatus, sulphureus, and galeritus, possess the vertical space described in the preceding 

 genus, but have not exactly the same pterylosis in other respects. I certainly noticed a divergent 

 branch on the inferior tract of P. galeritus ; but the tracts themselves were broader and more 

 sparsely feathered, although all of them contained only two rows of feathers, with the exception of 

 the nape-portion of the dorsal tract and the outer branches of the inferior tract, which consisted 

 of three rows. This species possessed powder-down feathers on the region of the pelvis and a 

 very distinct oil-gland; the latter I also detected in P. sulphurem, but in P. cristatus it is 

 reduced to a small membranous mamilla beset with feathers. In this last-mentioned species 

 the inferior space passed over the whole lower surface of the neck to the throat and the naked 

 space behind the lower mandible, so as completely to divide the inferior space into two halves. 

 At the same time, the outer branch did not appear to me to be distinctly separated from the main 

 stem, and each half of the inferior tract seemed to form a simple, very sparsely feathered quadri- 

 serial band. The wings also presented very peculiar characters, the remiges, twenty-two or 

 twenty-three in number, being obtusely rounded at the end, the third equal in length to the 

 fourth, fifth, and sixth : the hindmost secondaries were but little shorter than these four longest 

 primaries. Moreover, the first four or five presented a distinct emargination of the inner \veb, 

 which reached far down upon them. This, at least, is the form of the wing in P. cristatus. 



8. LIPOGLOSSJE. 



The three genera which I refer to this family, namely, Buceros, Upupa, and Alcedo, with the 

 subordinate divisions of recent writers, agree pterylographically in the absence of an after- 

 shaft on the contour-feathers and in the feathered tip of the oil-gland, but differ greatly in other 

 respects both in the form of the tracts and in the general character of the plumage. For, whilst 

 in Buceros the feathers are very sparsely distributed and form an almost uninterrupted plumage, 

 Upupa has narrow, linear tracts ; and although these also occur in Alcedo, this genus is remarkably 

 distinguished by a dense, general downy covering, which is wanting both in Upupa and Buceros. 

 The latter two genera have ten rectrices, whilst Alcedo possesses twelve. 



1. Buceros. According to my examination of B. abyssinicus, biarcuatus, plicatus, coronatus, 

 and nasutus, the larger species tend towards a nearly uninterrupted plumage, whilst in the smaller 

 ones the spaces are broader and appear more distinctly. All of them have the feathers very 

 sparsely inserted, and no down-feathers on the trunk : there are only a few on the inferior wing- 



