1S63.] MR. W. K. PARKER ON PALAMEDEA. 513 



between the skull and face of the Geese and Fowls are, first, that in 

 the latter the space between the periotic mass and the superoccipital 

 cartilage is a mere chink, in the latter a persistent oval space ; and 

 secondly that the anterior parts of the face, viz. the premaxillse, pre- 

 vomers, and dentaries are small and compressed in the Fowls, large 

 and outspread in the sifting birds. The body of the tongue par- 

 takes of the general expansion of the face in the Geese ; the descend- 

 ing part of the lachrymal suffers from the general contraction of the 

 parts in the face of the Fowl. Moreover the true Fowls (" Phasia- 

 ninae " and " Tetraoninse ") have tlie head of the os quadratum less 

 bifid at its joint with the skull, and therefore nearer the Ostriches 

 and reptiles in its structure than the same bone in the Goose-tribe. 

 It is highly worthy of remark, however, that the Sand-Grouse, He- 

 mipodii, Megapodes, and Curassows all agree with the Geese and 

 their allies in having a subornithic condition of this famous bone ; 

 and its upper articular crura begin to be quite distinct representatives 

 of the legs of the mammahan "incus." This, be it noticed, makes 

 the four groups of mixed "Gallinse" correspond, not only with the 

 Lamellirostres, but also with all those puzzling border-birds which 

 must be studied in connexion ; such as Psophia, Parr a, Cariama, 

 and Palamedea. 



Now the Rail-tribe, to which Palamedea has been supposed to 

 belong, has been for a long time burdened (on paper) with a very 

 false army-list. Everything alive that has had the misfortune to be 

 possessed of large unwieldy feet has been added to this feeble- 

 minded, cowardly group, until it has become a mixed multitude, with 

 discordant voices, and with manners and customs having no conso- 

 nance or relation. In a former paper 1 had the assurance to disband 

 the Cassowaries and Megapodes ; in the present I shall permit all 

 birds having much of the nature of the Plover (such as Parra), and 

 all those which have in them the nature of a Goose, to depart from 

 the Rail-tribe : I shall retain the Psophia as an outpost, notwith- 

 staading that it is more than half a Crane. 



A very large number of the genera of birds partake of a structure 

 and nature which may very appropriately be called Passerine ; and 

 ani)ther very large group, both of genera and families, may also be 

 called Pluvialine, — the common Golden, Grey, and Dotterel Plovers 

 being typical of these groups, which run up through the Sandpipers 

 and Curlews to the Ibises in one direction, through the Lapwing and 

 Stone-Plover to the Bustards and Cranes in another, and through 

 Chionis and the Pratincole to the Petrels and Gulls. Still this does 

 not exhaust the pluviahne birds ; for the Geese and their allies are 

 related on one hand to the Ibises through the Flamingo, and on the 

 other to the Cranes, although the proper connecting link in this case 

 is doubtful, Palamedea lying obliquely, not directly, between them. 

 The Megapodes, Hemipodes, Sand-Grouse, and Tinamous also 

 have no little proportion of the Plover in their nature. The Jacanas 

 (Parra) are essentially Plovers, although tliey have something of the 

 Rail in them, especially in their skull ; and they are united to the typi- 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1863, No. XXXIII. 



