198 MR. W. K. PARKER ON THE OSTEOLOGY 
The Syrrhaptes does not “ stalk up and down like a Peacock, a stride and a stand ;” it 
rather may be said to move like an automaton, the action being quick enough, but the 
cause of that action being invisible. Up ‘‘ the hill of difficulty ” the Syrrhaptes cannot 
go; a sudden elevation of an inch or two causes it to make, in its low, reptilian, unin- 
ventive way, a number of ineffectual pushes against the unlooked-for obstacle. The 
details of the structure of the Syrrhaptes skeleton will speak for themselves concerning 
the reason of these peculiarities ; and the structure of this gentle bird is to the ‘ teleo- 
logist” a distinct chapter—almost a special revelation. 
Table showing the number of vertebre in the Syrrhaptes, Grouse, Fowl, and Pigeon. 
Cervical. Dorsal. Sacral. Caudal. 
Syrrhaptes paradoxus ......+..+.. 16 4 15 6 
Dagopus scoticus: .......esscsee es 16 4 2 7 
Gallus domesticus .... 0.0.00 cu eeee 16 4 15 6 
Columba livia’ ars catsiesiaters avalelsisiete ts 14 4 14 7 
Pterocles arenarius 1... 2.000000 15 5 15 7 
I do not set much value on the number of caudal vertebre, as the last is a series, and 
the tail is very apt to vary in the number of those which shall be swallowed up in this 
terminal piece. The sacral are easily distinguished from the caudal in these birds, as 
even in the Pigeons the caudals are no longer pneumatic ; that is a better character even 
than coalescence of a vertebra with those that precede it. We see that the Pigeon fails 
of two vertebree in the neck, and two more in the sacrum: the last cervical also keeps 
distinct from the coalesced dorsal piece, which has only three vertebre in it. Reference 
to the foregoing descriptions will show how uniform the Gallinaceous birds are, in their 
subfamilies, as to the number of vertebre: there is this difference, that in Crax globi- 
cera there are sixteen sacral and six caudal vertebre, whilst in Talegalla lathami there 
are fifteen sacral and seven caudal. This may be accounted for by the fact that the 
bone which answers to the sixteenth sacral in Craz is distinct in Talegalla; in Crax 
the caudal vertebree are pneumatic, as in certain of the highest types of birds. 
The Syrrhaptes keeps close to the Fowls in respect to its vertebral characters ; whilst 
Hemipodius varius has one cervical less than the Fowls and one more than the 
Pigeons, and has the pluvialine character of keeping the dorsals distinct. The cervical 
vertebra of the Syrrhaptes (PJ. XXXVIII. c.) are as feeble as in Lagopus and Columba ; 
but the little styliform coalesced ribs agree rather with those of the latter than of the 
former. The floating cervical ribs are feebler than in either, and the large one (c.r.) even 
has no appendage such as exists in Pigeons and Grouse. The rest of the ribs (d.r.) are 
equal to those of the Grouse, but feeble and less cellular than in the Pigeon : the sacral rib 
(s.r.), as is constant, has no appendage; and its hemapophysis reaches the sternum, which 
it does not in Pigeons and Grouse. This last hemapophysis has a rudiment attached to 
it which belongs to the second sacral rib. The keels depending from the vertebre in 
the dorsal region (d.) answer to those of the two families with which I am comparing 
