THE ERODII. 127 



Gallinula and Fulica, and, indeed, exactly as represented in Eallus, therefore in its most perfect form. 

 At the same time the former genus, of which, however, I have examined only a single species 

 (G. chlorojms), approaches the type of the Rallince still more closely in the possession of a faint 

 short notch at the end of the dilated portion of the inferior tract, by which this is still more 

 distinctly indicated as a branch, and, indeed, is somewhat separated. All the rest is as in Fulica, 

 in which the above-mentioned notch is entirely wanting. The lateral space, like the inferior space, 

 does not extend to the middle of the neck in Gallinula, and the lanceolate spinal space does not 

 touch the neck at all ; in Fulica the two first-mentioned spaces reach higher up on the neck, and a 

 portion of the spinal space is visible upon it. The lumbar tracts are very long, and have sparse 

 contour-feathers beside them on the dorsal side, at least in Gallinula. The tail bears the same 

 small soft rectrices as in the Rallinee ; their number in Gallinula appears to vary between ten 

 and twelve, but is certainly fourteen in Fulica. I found twenty-three rerniges in Gallinula, 

 and twenty-five in Fulica; in the latter the second, in the former the third, was the longest. 



B. In Podoa (PI. VIII, fig. 9) the type oiAramus, Grus, Psopfda, and DicholopJius is reproduced, 

 the dorsal tract being discontinuous at the end of the shoulder-blades, and having its anterior forked 

 portion much stronger than the hinder part, which is divided as far as the oil-gland. The hinder 

 portion commences with single rows of feathers from the extremities of the fork, becomes gradually 

 broader, and attains its greatest extension only immediately in front of the caudal pit, where it 

 again becomes simple. The scapular and lumbar tracts are also remarkably weak, only biserial, 

 and the latter especially are much shorter than in the other FulicaricK. It also surprised me to 

 find aptilosis continua reaching almost to the end of the neck, and therefore even exceeding that 

 of Aramus ; for both the lateral neck-spaces and the inferior space scarcely pass above the level 

 of the shoulders, whilst the spinal space does not even reach that level. The wing differs greatly 

 from that of the species of Fulica in its elongated pointed form, although the relative propor- 

 tions of the remiges are the same ; the number of remiges is probably twenty-one, that of the 

 rectrices certainly eighteen. The latter are of a firmer texture than those of Fulica, Gallinula, 

 and the Rallince. I have already mentioned the total absence of the after-shaft on the contour- 

 feathers (p. 120). 



3. ERODII. 



The peculiar powder-down-tracts which occur only in members of this family among the 

 Wading Birds certainly form their best pterylographic character, for there are important and ex- 

 tremely remarkable differences in the form of the other tracts in the genera belonging to it. In 

 general, the exceedingly narrow, often only biserial, structure of the tracts may be cited as a 

 character of the group, although in one genus (Eurypygd) an uninterrupted plumage is to be 

 found on the whole of the neck down to the trunk. The absence of lateral neck-spaces thus 

 caused is, however, a family character, inasmuch as in Ardea and Cancroma a tract occurs 'exactly 

 where this space ought to run. With this all the general characters of the Erodii are exhausted, 

 for the down-feathers on the spaces and the after-shaft on both down- and contour- feathers are 

 characters which occur in almost all the Waders. This applies also to the circlet of feathers on 

 the short mamilla of the oil-gland, which in other respects presents no peculiarity of formation. 



The above-mentioned powder-down-tracts, however, present many peculiarities in this 



