160 MR. W. K. PARKER ON THE OSTEOLOGY 



The large perforated episternum is perfectly typical. The pelvis of Dendrortyx 

 reminds the observer of that of Hemipodius ; but it is wider in the postfemoral part, 

 and really keeps close to the structure of the Quail's pelvis. The long and arched 

 OS femoris answers well to its counterpart in the Quail. The four coalesced bones, 

 followed by the one separate vertebra in front of the sacrum, is perfectly typical ; and 

 the rest of the vertebrae, and the ribs with their appendages, all speak the same 

 language'. 



The long " miUtary " spur dies out in the dwarfs of the typical group ; not so the 

 furious pugnacity of the jealous males : the female Hemipodius, notwithstanding her 

 relationship to the Turtledove on the one hand and to the gentle Plover on the other, 

 yet possesses this " cursedness " of the Gamecock and the Quail, and that in an 

 undiminished degree^. 



c. The ultratypical " Rasores " or " MegapodiineB." 

 Example : The Brush-Turkey (Talegalla lathami). 

 There are many reasons why the phasianine Gallinaceous birds should be considered 

 typical ; they are furthest in both outward and inward structure from all otlier groups ; 

 whilst the other subfamilies have one or more decided leanings towards outlying types. 

 The voice, so simple and yet so peculiar, and proceeding from a very simple apparatus, 

 (the inferior larynx having no special muscles), the plumage of many members of the 

 group attaining the highest degree of gorgeousness — a gorgeousness only rivalled, not 

 surpassed, by the Birds of Paradise and the insect-like Humming-birds, — and, lastly, 

 the peculiar armature of the legs, render these birds very peculiar, and quite distinct from 

 all others. In the subfamilies all these things fall off: the spurs are gone, the plumage 

 has become sombre, and, in the Sandgrouse and Megapods, the inferior speech-organ 

 has attained a pair of special muscles. In the typical species the most direct structural 

 relationship is, leaving out the other Gallinaceous subfamilies, with the aberrantly 

 struthious Tinamous^; and the typical Fowl is a midway stepping-stone from the least 

 ornithic birds, the Ostriches, to the most ornithic birds, the Crows and Songsters. 

 Perhaps the most inherent affinity, the one that keeps breaking out in the most 

 unexpected ways in the subfamilies, is with the Grallatorial groups. We shall come 

 to see that the Struthious bird does not, as it were, pass at once into the Gallinaceous 

 form, but seems to hesitate and look plov er ward, — the first breaking-up of the mass 

 being compound, and requiring fresh and fresh specialization before the true and proper 



' I shall speak of the digestive organs of Dendrortyx when I come to describe those of Talegalla. 



- Mr. Blyth informs me that the female Hemipodius is better-coloured, larger, and far more pugnacious than 

 her mate. The large size of this shrew is a very important fact ; for in the Plover tribes it is very common : 

 and the osteology of the Hemipodius is in some respects decidedly pluvialine. 



^ The relationship existing between the whole Gallinaceous tribe with the " Anatinse," of which latter group 

 Palamedea is the most " rasorial " form, will be spoken of at the end of this paper. 



