OF GALLINACEOUS BIRDS AND TINAMOUS. 199 
the Syrrhaptes. Both in Lagopus and Syrrhaptes the pelvis has greatly fallen off from 
its typical strength, to say nothing of its ultratypical condition in the Talegalla and 
the Peacock ; but, as compared with that of the Pigeons, the pelvis of the Syrrhaptes 
and Grouse is in both cases truly Gallinaceous. 
That which at once strikes the eye in the pelvis of the Pigeon is its almost square 
contour, the shortness, breadth, and horizontality of the anterior part of the iliac bones, 
the great size and evenly tumid condition of the posterior part, the ultimately complete 
obliteration of the ilio-sacral sutures, combined with a very perfect filling-up of all the in- 
terspaces, and, lastly, the exquisite polish and delicately cellular condition of the whole 
sheet of bone. There is much that is Pigeon-like in the pelvis of the Grouse and the 
Syrrhaptes (Pl. XX XVIII. il., ise., & Pl. XLI. fig. 5)—more in the latter than in the 
former ; but the anterior part of the ilium (i.) is longer and narrower, and the posterior 
part relatively shorter, and its surface sinking more suddenly near the posterior margin. 
Then, in both, the ilio-sacral suture is not so apt to be lost; and, especially in the 
Syrrhaptes, the interspaces are badly filled up, particularly between the acetabula. The 
preacetabular spur is obsolete in Columba ; it is present, but enfeebled, in Lagopus and 
Syrrhaptes (Pl. XLI. fig. 5, ac.). The ischiadic foramen is larger in these birds than in 
the Pigeon; and in both, especially Syrrhaptes, the pubis is a feebler bar of bone than 
in the Pigeon. The Pigeon and the Grouse agree in having the ischium continued 
backwards in a long triangular piece ; in Syrrhaptes it is obliquely and rather suddenly 
truncated (Pl. XX XVIII. isc.). In both the Grouse and the Syrrhaptes the caudal ver- 
tebre are considerably weaker than in the Pigeon; but they have much in common. 
The sudden sinking-in of the ilium near the end, and the deficient sacral roof, are both 
manifestly Plover-characters ; and I have no doubt that if some one would follow the 
osteologist and give usa perfect comparison of the muscular system in these groups, then 
we should see that all these pits, and hills, and jutting crags of bone are full of meaning, 
and answer precisely to the life of the bird. 
The sword-shaped scapula of birds, simple as it is in form, is yet subject to endless 
modifications. In Fowls generally, e. g. Gallus, Crax, Talegallu, it is very roughly 
ensiform, thick at the beginning, broad at the middle, and then tapering gradually to 
an obliquely truncated point. In the Grouse (Lagopus) it is feebler and more truncated 
at the end. In the Syrrhaptes (Pl. XXXVIIL. sc.) the truncation of the end is at its 
greatest degree, and the upper margin of the bone is longer than the lower; so that 
the bone looks like the radix premorsa (morsus diaboli) of botanists, where, according to 
the fanciful notion of the old ecclesiastical herbalists, the great enemy has enviously 
bitten off much of the precious root. This premorse scapula tapers gently towards the 
end, as in Vanellus, but in that bird the ‘‘sword” is well shaped. In the Pigeon the 
bone becomes very broad in its last third, but ends in a somewhat hooked point. The 
scapula of Syrrhaptes is not typical, but mixed'; its most marked character also is 
* The scapula of Syrrhaptes is a very close counterpart of that of the Argus-like Archeopteryx (Professor 
VOL. V.— PART III. 2D 
