SKULL OF THE ZGITHOGNATHOUS BIRDS. 271 
In Phrygilus the large tympanic cavities, the straight stout pterygoids, the narrow 
palatine isthmus, ending in large interpalatine spikes, and the larger ethmo-palatines 
(Plate XLIX. fig. 8, ¢.pa, ¢.pa)—all these are almost the exact counterparts of those 
of the Snow-Bunting. ‘The transpalatine (¢.pa) is very similar to that of E. miliaria 
(fig. 5), but it is flatter; the first part of the prepalatine bar is narrow, and then 
widens as in E. citrinella, It differs from our native forms in having the palatines 
wider apart and not so steep. 
The palato-maxillaries (p.ma) are exactly like those of Plectrophanes; the maxillo- 
palatine processes are pneumatic as in Z, citrinella, but narrow as in Plectrophanes. 
Also, as in the latter, the maxillaries (mx) are flat bands in front of the jugum. There 
is more submarginal channelling on the palatal face of the rostrum than in Plectrophanes ; 
but the two inner grooves, with their separating bulb ending in a triangular bony 
tongue, are very similar to this and the last. 
The vomer (figs. 8 & 9, v) is large, oblong, and has on each side a descending ridge 
as in the last two, whilst its emargination is equal to that of E. citrinella. On the 
inturned lamina there is an ossicle near the vomer: this is the septo-maxillary (fig. 9, 
8.mx); it exactly corresponds to the ossicle which forms the ascending horn in the vomer 
of E. citrinella, which, however, in my specimen, had become ankylosed to the 
vomer. The nasal floor runs further inwards than in our Buntings, as in Jcterus (figs. 
1, 5, 8, n. f). These laminz and the edges of the largely alate septum (s. n, tr) are 
not distinctly dentate, as in EL. miliaria. There is some considerable amount of calci- 
fication in the septum nasi and inferior turbinals, about equal to what is seen in the 
Icteridee, and beyond any thing I find in the Buntings. 
The ecto-ethmoid is very similar to what is found in both these families. It differs 
from both the Icteridze and E. miliaria in having a deeper notch on the outer edge 
of the spongy pars plana; but the notch is similar to that of Plectrophanes, and 
exactly like that of E. citrinella, where, as in this species, the “ foot” of that plate has 
a sharp ascending process. 
Neither in this kind nor in the Buntings do I find either lacrymal or os uncinatum; 
but when those bones are taken in outline, together with the pars plana, in Jcterus, 
then the lateral notch is deep and rounded, as in Emberiza citrinella and Phrygilus. 
The ethmo-presphenoidal bony bar, that runs between the paired orbital and the 
single interorbital fenestra, is about equal to what is seen in the Icteride and the 
Buntings. In the Cardinals the orbital fenestre are much less, and the interorbital 
becomes a solid bony wall. 
Altogether the cranio-facial characters of this bird, which is about equal in size to 
E. miliaria, come so close to those of our native Buntings that it may truly be said 
it differs no more in this respect from the Snow-Bunting than that bird does from 
the Corn-Bunting, 
It is certainly related to the Cow-Buntings (Icteride), and perhaps is one of a 
