1863.] MR. W. K. PARKER ON PALAMEDKA. 515 



familiar with the fens, I am well acquaintefl with the grazing habits 

 of the typical Goose*. There is a little of the Crane in the sternum ; 

 but, on the whole, the skeleton may be said to belong to a very lacer- 

 tian Goose. This is cautiously said ; for have we not four fore claws 

 in the wing, extremely long sprawling toes, and the ribs perfectly 

 destitute of the nearly universal tie-bones or a})pendages? This 

 deficiency is unique amongst birds ; and the Crocodiles possess these 

 appendages : I consider this a lacertian character, as their occasional 

 presence in Lizards is as exceptional as their absence in birds. Now 

 amongst the rib-like bones in the fossil skeleton of the Archeopteryx 

 I see nothing like an appendage starting from any one of them ; nor 

 has Professor Owen figured anything of the kind in his beautiful 

 memoir in the ' Philosophical Transactions.' Let it be added that, 

 although several genera of birds have spurs to their wings, these 

 birds all lie nearly on the same ornithic plane as the Palamedea, 

 — the Syrian Blackbird {Alerula dactyl opt era) (see Professor Owen 

 on Archeopteryx, p. 39) being the only exception. The Megapode 

 is also mentioned by Professor Owen (ibid.) ; but that is a great 

 help to me, and comes in well. 



So we see that the birds with nails in their wings are (with one 

 or two exceptions) all aquatic types, the more unspecialized forms of 

 which are for the most part possessed of dorsal vertebrae conjoined 

 by a cup-and-ball (opisthoccelian) articulation, and are very far below 

 the typical tree-birds in their structure and in their habits. 



But the digit-claws appear in other birds which have not out- 

 standing spurs. Professor Owen {ibid. p. 39) mentions the Apteryx 

 has having the mid digit terminating in a joint, which supports a 

 curved claw ; the Emeu and the Cassowary have the same structure ; 

 and the Rhea has an ungual ])halanx covered with a claw added to 

 the index-finger, which is generally composed of one joint in birds. 

 The Swan, as well as the Chaja {Palamedea), have the same, and they 

 both have the mid-finger series complete, the last joint being most 

 perfect in the Swan {Cyytms olor). The furculum of the Palamedea 

 is more like that of that great pluvialine the Bustard {Otis tarda) 

 than that of a Goose ; but it is very much more solid : its only coun- 

 terpart for relative size is that of the Archeopteryx. The coracoids 

 are strong bony tubes, open below by a large scooped hollow. The 

 sternum of this bird differs from that of the Goose or Swan by just 

 so much as the sternum of the Short-winged Rails, especially lira- 

 chypteryx, differs from that of the ordinary types. It is narrower 

 behind, and the episternum is gone from the front : yet it is tho- 

 roughly anserine in character, for the keel does not reach the end ; 

 and, indeed, it is in this respect intermediate between what we see in 

 the Geese and what occurs in the " Totipalmatae." Eight ribs reach 

 the sternum by haemapophyses, as in the Swan ; there are seven in 

 the Goose, Psophia, and Serass Crane. On the right side there are 



the cackling goose, 



Close-grazer • 



Philips's Cyder. 



