193 ON THE UNITED STATES COLUMBID^. [Mar. 3, 



15. Sternum large, with very deep carina ; two pairs of flaring 



xiphoidal processes, usually making the bone 4-notched, but 

 the posterior or more inconspicuous internal pair of xiphoidal 

 processes may unite hy their extremities with the mid-xiphoi- 

 dal prolongation and thus create fenestree behind. Manu- 

 brium small. Corpus sterni often narrow for its entire length. 

 Usually four articular facettes upon each costal border. 



16, The humerus is straight, pneumatic, and its radial crest is 

 triangular in form. The radius is straight and the ulna is 

 bowed. 



1 7. Trochanter o{ femur elevated above the summit of the shaft. 



Patella may be very small and in two pieces, or it may be 



larger with a single minute piece near it {S tarncenas) . 



Ossific centres in tibial cartilage. 

 18. Hypotarsus of tarso-metatarsus of short cubical form, and is 



both pierced and grooved for the passage of tendons. 



Hallux on a level with the other toes, and its metatarsal 



pecuHarly twisted. Phalanges of pes 2, 3, 4, 5 for the 



1st to 4th toes respectively. 



Conclusions. 



Our Suborder of GolumhcB in the United States contains but one 

 family — the ColumbidcB. Whether the Quail-Doves of the genus 

 Starnoenas should be awarded a subfamily of the Columhidce can 

 only be settled when we are in possession of a full knowledge of 

 their anatomy. So far as the osteology of Starnanas cyanocephala 

 goes, it would seem to indicate that a subfamily line separates it 

 from our other Pigeons ^ 



One of the best established facts in ornithology is that the 

 Columbidcs are nearly related to the great gallinaceous group of 

 birds, so then the nearest relatives they have in our avifauna are 

 the Tetraonidce, especially the Grouse. Then beyond them are the 

 Cracidae and Turkeys. Huxley has said (P. Z. S. 1867, p. 460) 

 that " on the other side they seem to be allied with the Owls and 

 Vultures." Such affinities, however, must be quite remote. There 

 is no question about the links that connect the Columbine types 

 with the Grouse and Ptarmigans {Lagopus), for they are most 

 perfectly seen in the Sand-Grouse, holding as these latter do a 

 morphological position directly between them. The Plovers are 

 not so far off in another direction, and Tinamus and Hemipodius 

 have also distant claims to kinship. The extinct Dodo and the 

 existing Didunculus of Samoa show other and perhaps nearer 

 relations. Eossil remains of Pigeons, so far as the present writer is 

 aware, have not as yet been found in this country, though those of 

 several species of Turkeys have. 



1 With its enormous sternum, its differently constituted vertebral column, and 

 a number of other points, it will at once be seen that, osteologically, Starnoenas 

 is quite different from any of our other Pigeons. These characters are also 

 supported by others already pointed out by Coues (Key, 2nd ed. p. 571), wlio 

 ■has created for it the subfamily Starnaenadincs, and I am strongly inclined tu 

 believe he is right. 



