No. 4.] SHUFELDT ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF SPEOTYTO. 117 



plane. These bones may almost be said to interlock with, each other, 

 with their superior projecting processes behind fitting closely into the 

 deep groove intended to receive them on the anterior faces of the joints 

 to their immediate rear. The other undescribed phalanges of these two 

 toes resemble the proximal segment of hallux. The fourth or outside 

 toe possesses five phalanges, but the three innermost segments are very 

 short, and are really nothing more than one of the middle type of pha- 

 langeal bones, such as the third on the mid-toe, divided into three nearly 

 equal parts, the proximal and distal pieces retaining all the character- 

 istics of that bone, while the middle segment is simply a mid-section of 

 the shaft. This arrangement, however, together with the manner in 

 which the proximal phalanx, if it may be termed so in this bird, articu- 

 lates with the long and elevated trochlea on the tarso-metatarsus, gives 

 this toe a versatility and a power to be thrown outward and, to a limited 

 extent, to the rear, not enjoyed by any of the other toes, constituting one 

 of the most interesting anatomical features that we find in the family 

 ^trigidcB. 



