OF GALLINACEOUS BIRDS AND TINAMOUS. 227 
shaped, and having short curved rami ; it has, however, no angular process: there is a 
slight trace of this process in the Syrrhaptes, and it has become still more evident in the 
Plovers (Vanellus and Charadrius) and in the Gambet (Totanus fuscus) and its allies. 
Yet the feebler sort of pluvialines have this same kind of furculum, which is but little 
altered in the typical Ibises: it takes on great changes in the forms that grow, as it 
were, out of the Ibis-type, and that have become specialized into Herons and Storks. 
The curve of the furcular rami in the Tinamou is shown by the fact that they are one- 
third longer actually than a line drawn from the tip to the angle. The flattened tip of 
the bone is as blunt as in Syrrhaptes, and blunter than in the Lapwing: in the feeble 
“‘ Longirostres,” e. g. Totanus, Limosa, and also in Numenius, the extremity is greatly 
lengthened. I mention this to show that the furculum of the Tinamou comes nearest 
to that of the simple pluvialine type. In the ‘‘Galline and Ralline ” we have a 
V-shaped furculum, in the former with an angular plate, in the latter without it: in 
the Hemipodius we get much nearer the Fowls in this part of the skeleton. The 
coracoids (Pls. XXXIX. & XLI. cr.) are very gallinaceous in character, being roughly 
formed, having none of the sharpness and neatness of the bone in the higher tribes ; 
they are much shorter than in the Fowl, as may be seen from the table; their pneu- 
matic hole is close behind the head. 
The sternum of the Tinamou was described and figured by M. F. J. ’Herminier in 
1827. He describes it at p. 66 of his ‘ Recherches sur l’Appareil sternal des Oiseaux ;’ 
and in pl. 3. fig. 24, a,b, an upper and an oblique side-view are figured of this remark- 
able structure. At p.67 he remarks, ‘‘ Cette piéce existe seule au Muséum, et manque 
de son complément par l’absence des trois os de l’épaule ; elle m’a suffi cependant pour 
séparer les Tinamous des Gallinacés, auxquels on les réunit d’ordinaire, et pour en 
former une famille tout-a-fait distincte.” 
We shall see, even from the structure of the sternum only (Pls. XX XIX. & XLI. 
fig. 1), how distinct the Tinamou is from the Fowls; and this bone also throws some 
light upon this extremely variable part of the skeleton—the worst part for the systematist 
to hold by, and yet extremely valuable if properly checked by the structure of the 
skeleton as awhole. The sternum of the Tinamou is a good halfway in passing from 
that of the Apteryx to that of the Fowl; and although the Tinamou has not escaped 
from the struthious group, yet, in brief, it may be said to be a natural intermedium 
between those forms. The only process in the Tinamou’s sternum which is wanting in 
that of the Apteryz is the keel; but there is a marvellous contrast in this respect : that 
of the Tinamou is large, long, and rather deep ; the whole body of the sternum in the 
Apteryx is like a strip of parchment. We have convexity in the breastplates of the 
Emu, Cassowary, and Ostrich, the mesial part being as it were collected into an 
ovoidal tumulus : in the Rhea the entosternum is really subcultrate. The episternum of 
the Tinamou (Pl. XLI. fig. 1, ep.) has all the appearance of that of a Fowl from 
which has been smoothly pared the whole of the middle bridge and lower keel; or it 
