170 



The Goose-like Birds 



The wings are large, broad, and rounded, with the third quill longest, and each 

 wing is provided on the carpal portion with two curious, powerful spurs, the front 

 one being much the, larger. The plumage is composed of rather soft feathers, 

 especially on the neck ; the tail, of fourteen or twelve feathers, is broad and nearly 

 half as long as the wings. The Screamers possess, also, a number of other 

 marked peculiarities, the principal one being the absence of uncinate processes 

 to the ribs, a condition not known in any other living birds, and suggesting at 



FIG. 56. Horned Screamer, Palamedea cornuta. 



once the reptiles. The bones of the skeleton are very highly pneumatic, and the 

 skin and underlying tissue to the depth of nearly half an inch is so completely 

 filled with minute air spaces that it produces a crackling sound when pressed. 

 According to Newton, the Screamers share with the Penguins the distinction 

 of having the body continuously feathered, that is, without apteria, but other 

 observers record the presence of a small bare space under each wing. 



There has been much discussion as to the systematic position of the Screamers, 

 and even now it can hardly be regarded as definitely settled. Some would regard 

 their characters as of sufficient importance to entitle them to ordinal rank, but, 

 all things considered, it seems least inconvenient to consider them as an aberrant 



