SKULL OF THE ^GITHO&NATHOFS BIEDS. 271 



In Phrygilus the large tympanic cavities, the straight stout pterygoids, the narrow 

 palatine isthmus, ending in large interpalatine spikes, and the larger ethmo-palatines 

 (Plate XLIX. fig. 8, i.pa, e.pa) — all these are almost the exact counterparts of those 

 of the Snow-Bunting. The transpalatine [t.pa) is very similar to that of E. miliaria 

 (fig. 5), but it is flatter ; the first part of the prsepalatine bar is narrow, and then 

 widens as in E. citrinella. It differs from our native forms in having the palatines 

 wider apart and not so steep. 



The palato-maxillaries {p.mx) are exactly like those of Phctrophanes ; the maxillo- 

 palatine processes are pneumatic as in E. citrinella, but narrow as in Plecfrophanes. 

 Also, as in the latter, the maxillaries {mx) are flat bands in front of the jugum. There 

 is more submarginal channelling on the palatal face of the rostrum than in PlectropJianes ; 

 but the two inner grooves, with their separating bulb ending in a triangular bony 

 tongue, are very similar to this and the last. 



The vomer (figs. 8 & 9, ?)) is large, oblong, and has on each side a descending ridge 

 as in the last two, whilst its emargination is equal to that of E. citrinella. On the 

 inturned lamina there is an ossicle near the vomer : this is the septo-maxillary (fig. 9, 

 s.mx) ; it exactly corresponds to the ossicle which forms the ascending horn in the vomer 

 of E. citrinella, which, however, in my specimen, had become ankylosed to the 

 vomer. The nasal floor runs further inwards than in our Buntings, as in Icterus (figs. 

 1, 5, 8, n.f). These laminse and the edges of the largely alate septum [s.n, tr) are 

 not distinctly dentate, as in E. miliaria. There is some considerable amount of calci- 

 fication in the septum nasi and inferior turbinals, about equal to what is seen in the 

 Icteridse, and beyond any thing I find in the Buntings. 



The ecto-ethmoid is very similar to what is found in both these families. It difl'ers 

 from both the Icteridse and E. miliaria in having a deeper notch on the outer edge 

 of the spongy pars plana ; but the notch is similar to that of Plectrophanes, and 

 exactly like that of E. citrinella, where, as in this species, the " foot " of that plate has 

 a sharp ascending process. 



Neither in this kind nor in the Buntings do I find either lacrymal or os uncinatum; 

 but when those bones are taken in outline, together with the pars plana, in Icterus, 

 then the lateral notch is deep and rounded, as in Emheriza citrinella and Phrygihis. 



The ethmo-praesphenoidal bony bar, that runs between the paired orbital and the 

 single interorbital fenestrse, is about equal to what is seen in the Icteridae and the 

 Buntings. In the Cardinals the orbital fenestras are much less, and the interorbital 

 becomes a solid bony wall. 



Altogether the cranio-facial characters of this bird, which is about equal in size to 

 E. miliaria, come so close to those of our native Buntings that it may truly be said 

 it difl'ers no more in this respect from the Snow-Bunting than that bird does from 

 the Corn-Bunting. 



It is certainly related to the Cow-Buntings (Icteridse), and perhaps is one of a 



