290 PEOFESSOE W. K. PAEKEE ON THE 



distinct osseous elements which it displays. The skull and face, as a whole, are perfectly 

 typical, or like those of a true Sylvia ; and the vomer, whilst quite normal, is relatively 

 as large as in the Eatitse. The nasal capsule is soft, all but the top of the septum 

 (Plate LII. fig. 8, s. v). In the angle between the nasal and ecto-ethmoid there is, for 

 a bird of this kind, a large lacrymal ; it is broad above, and runs into a sharp point 

 below. 



But the point of greatest interest is the occurrence in the Wagtail of a very distinct 

 OS uncinatum, the ornithic counterpart of the ethmo-palatine pedicle of the Batrachia. 

 Here this bone is perfectly distinct from, although strongly attached to, the antero- 

 inferior aspect of the large spongy pars plana (Plate LII. figs. 8, 8 a, p.p, o. «); it is 

 W-shaped, or rather is like what the human incus would be if it were a flat bone. In 

 the Yellow Wagtail {Motacilla flava, Mont., Jen., & Selb., Budytes rayi, Macg.) the 

 lacrymal is less developed, and the os uncinatum is a long, sinuous, arcuate thread of 

 bone applied to the convex fore face of the thick spongy pars plana below (Plate LII. 

 fig. 8 b, l,p.p, o.u,). 



In the absence of any marked osteological specializations, giving variety to the skull 

 and palate of so many soft-billed types, these are, without controversy, of great value. 

 But their zoological importance is much less than their morphological, seeing that by 

 the sudden and unlooked-for breaking-out of these elements we are ever being brought 

 face to face with the clearest evidence of the derived nature, from low and ancient 

 types, of the most inexplicable parts of the organization of these high and perfect 

 creatures. 



No special-purpose doctrine is of any sernce here: from another standpoint these 

 things must be seen. 



Example 64. Skull of Golden Oriole, nestling (Oriolus galhula). Family Oriolidse. 



Group Oscines. 

 Haiitat. North America. 



The palate of this type, in the young bird, is a sort of rough model of the Passerine 

 structure; it also presents certain peculiarities deserving of notice. 'The pterygoids 

 (Plnte LII. fig. 6, pg, epg) are short and stout, with an imperfect epipterygoid process. 

 The two laminffi of the palate are about equal {i.pa, e.pa), the isthmus broad, and the 

 rest of the bone the ordinary ornithic scythe-shaped bar, having, as yet, on its hinder 

 outbend an irregular lozenge of hyaline cartilage {t.pa). The fore end is a sharp point 

 of bone passing, normally, on the inside of the palatal process of the V-shaped pra^max- 

 illary {p.px, pr.pa). The maxillo-palatine process is, as yet, thick-rooted, thick-stemmed, 

 and having a backwardly-turned clubbed end. 



In front the maxillary {mx) runs into the sharp reentering angle between the dentary 

 and palatal spikes of the prsemaxillary ; and behind it sends a long jugal process almost 

 to the quadrate, as in the Frog. The ox-faced vomer {v) has its right and left halves 



