1902.] OSTEOLOGY OF THE FALCONIFORMES. 311 



ph, 2, but not so much as in the other Biifeonince. Similarly 

 ph. 2 of dig. III. and ph. 2, 3 of dig, TV. are relatively mucli 

 longer than in the latter group. 



In the Buteonidse ph, 1 of dig. II. is very short and often fused 

 with ph, 2, as in Haliaetus for example : ph. 2, dig. III. is 

 generally much shorter than ph. 1 and 3 : ph. 3, 4, dig. TV. are 

 always very shoi't. In Elamts ph, 3 is I'educed to a vestigial 

 condition. 



In Accipiier ph, 2, dig. III, is not shortened : in Elanus it is 

 exceedingly so. Again, in Accipiter ph. 2, 3, dig. lY,, though 

 obviously shoitened, ai-e not nearly so much so as is usually the 

 case among the Accipitres. The numerous vaiiations of this 

 chaiacter are useful geneiic characters, and will be found in the 

 keys which it is proposed to add to this paper. 



It is interesting to note that the foot of the Striges in the 

 matter of proportionate lengths of the phalai^.ges resembles the 

 Buteonine section of the Accipitres. 



ix. Summary. 



Adaptation to a raptoiial mode of life has so profoundly 

 modified the skeleton of the Falconiformes that much of the 

 evidence concei'iiing the oi'igin of the group has been defaced or 

 obscured. 



The most aberrant members of the group ai'e the Oathartse. 

 So markedly do these differ from the other Accipitiine forms that 

 authoiities of no less weight than Gai-rod and Foibes, foi- instance, 

 regarded them as an Older apart therefrom. Thus Garrod placed 

 them with the Ciconiie and Steganopodes, and Forbes with the 

 Ciconise and Tubinares, This was based on a study of the anatomy 

 of the soft parts — plantar tendons, thigh- and wing-muscles, and 

 trachea, and on the vestigial condition of the cfeca, and in all these 

 particulars the group is undoubtedly Stoi-k-like, 



Mr, Beddard, however, has recently^ expressed his belief in 

 the deiivation of the Falconiformes from a Gruine stem, and has 

 furthermoi'e bi'ought forward some convincing evidence in suppoi-t 

 of his views. The Stork-like chaiacters of the Falconiformes are 

 possibly to be traced from theii' oi'igin low down on the Gruine 

 stem before the characters common to the divei'ging branches of 

 Storks and Cranes began to undergo transformation, 



Osteologically, the Falconiformes are cei-tainly moi'e Gruine 

 than Ciconiine, and here the character most to be depended upon 

 is found in the skull. It is a comparatively small point, at fiist 

 sight, yet it explains the apparently wide diffeiences which 

 separate the skull of the Cathartse, not only from that of all the 

 other Falconiformes, but from that of all other members of the 

 Class Aves. 



The Cathartfe, it will be remembered, have a desmognathous 

 palate of a quite peculiar type, the maxillo-palatine processes 



1 Structure and Classification of Birds. 1898. 



