OF GALLINACEOUS BIRDS AND TINAMOUS. 18] 
upper beak, which gives the vulturine cast to the Dodo’s face, and which makes the 
Didunculus worthy of the trivial name strigirostris, that curve of the ‘‘ neb” is much 
better seen in the Hemipodii than in Syrrhaptes. 
It would be a great satisfaction to the anatomist to know the habits of all these 
curious birds, whether they are monogamous, as the Pigeons, or polygamous, as the 
Fowls. 
Returning to the Hemipodius we find that the dentary margin of the premaxillary 
is, as in Pigeons and Plovers, more completely fused with the corresponding portion of 
the so-called maxillary or prevomerine bone than in the Gallinacez ; but these parts, 
with the addition of the anterior end of the palatine, do not floor-in the nasal struc- 
tures: except at the sides, more than the middle third is open. Towards the end of 
this space the prevomerine turbinal processes may be seen (Pls. XXXIV. & XXXV. 
fig. 1, pv.). They pass from the body of the bone just where it gives off the retral 
zygomatic style. These processes are smaller relatively in the Hemipodi than in any 
other bird,—the “Tetraonide ” (PI. XXXVI. fig. 6) and the Syrrhaptes (Pl. XXXVI. 
fig. 1) coming next, and then the Tinamous (Pl. XL. fig. 1), the Quail, and the larger 
Gallinaceous birds. The jugal and quadrato-jugal (j., q.j.) are nearly as slender as the 
zygomatic process of the prevomer. ‘These parts are very slender in all the relatives 
of the Hemipodius. The prevomerine processes pass inwards, and curve backwards, 
nearly reaching the little broad vomer (Pl. XXXIV. figs. 1 & 4, v.), which is convex 
anteriorly, with a short horn at each angle, and ending behind in a slight style on 
each side for attachment to the palatines. ‘The tip of the ‘‘ rostrum” rests on the 
upper concave face of the vomer. This bone is not to be seen in the skeleton of 
Hemipodius varius in the museum of the College of Surgeons ; it may have been lost. 
The posterior part of the palatines is well developed (pa.), having, as in the Pigeon 
(Pl. XXXVIL. fig. 6), Plover (P]. XXXVI. fig. 1), and most typical birds, a pair of 
keels to each bone. They are most like those of the Plover. In the Fowls (Pl. XXXVI. 
fig. 6) the inner keel is aborted, in the Struthionide (including the Tinamous) both the 
keels are aborted,—the palatine of these birds being a mere semicylindrical shell of bone, 
with the middle part often mere membrane. All the anterior two-thirds of the palatine of 
Hemipodius is a delicate style of bone. ‘The chief parts of this palatine (as in typical 
birds) are the narrow anterior portion, the wide posterior part with its two keels, the 
orbital process, embracing the basisphenoidal rostrum, the vomerine processes, which 
often coalesce with the vomer, and the narrow vertical articular surface for articulation 
with the pterygoid. 
This latter bone, the pterygoid (pg.), has been partly described in treating of the basis 
cranii; anteriorly it presents a subtriangular vertical surface for articulation with the 
palatine ; and above this facet is the orbital lamina, which embraces the rostrum more per- 
fectly than the similar part of the palatine does. This bone is broader than that of the 
Lapwing (Pl. XXXVII. fig. 1), less cellular than that of the Pigeon (Pl. XX XVII. fig. 6) 
