ANATOMY OF THE SHOE-BILL. 651 



in the Bird Department of the British Museum. Most of the 

 Steganopods have a scoop-like edge forming a primitive stage 

 like that shewn in the figure (fig. 120, 1), but some of them, for 

 instance the common Cormorant, have a well-formed comb. The 

 small claws of Storks seem to have no trace even of the initial 

 asymmetry, but Ibises are certainly more nearly allied to Storks 

 than to Spoon-bills, and although the White Ibis (fig. 120, 1) has 

 only the scoop-like edge, the Glossy Ibis [Plegadis falcinelhis) 

 has a well-formed comb. Eurypyga and Rhinochetus have the 

 curved edge but no serration ; Ctcrsorius, Dromas and Glareola 

 have well-marked combs. Among the Strigidas, Scops and some 

 of the smaller owls have the curved cutting-edge without serra- 

 tion ; Ketupa is in the same condition. Biibo has a well developed 

 cutting-edge with a few slight serrations ; Strix JIammea has a 

 well-marked comb occupjdng the upper part of the edge of the 

 claw. By a curious accident of nomenclature I was led to 

 examine some of the Birds-of-Paradise. Fiirbringer mentions 

 Falcinellus as a genus in which the claw is pectinated, and as I 

 had forgotten that that name had been used for a genus of Ibis, 

 and knew that it was used for a Bird-of- Paradise, I examined the 

 latter, and found that the claw in the Rifle-birds usually showed 

 a sharp cutting-edge and that occasionally (e. g. Ptilorhis and 

 Epimachus) there were slight nicks in it. 



H. R. Da vies (7, p. 368) in discussing the function of this organ 

 remarks that the " pectinated claw should not be regarded as a 

 structure peculiar to nightjars, owls, herons, cormoraa:its and 

 gannets, and diflferent from anything found in any other bird, 

 but merely as a highly modified form of a structure found in a 

 less modified form in many birds." There seems to be no doubt 

 but that the chief use of the modification of the claw is for 

 scratching, possibly for removing parasites, and its presence 

 may be compared in a general way with the condition in the 

 mammalian Dassies, in which all the digits are protected by 

 flat nails, except the inner digit on each hind foot which is 

 provided with a sharp claw used in scratching. 



Rhamphotheca. — The horny covering of the beak is compound in 

 Bcdcenicejis, the premaxillary portion being separate, as in Scopus. 

 In Storks and Herons it is simple. The edge of the horny lower 

 jaw is delicately serrated. 



The Syrinx. — This has been studied and figured by Beddard(3), 

 and I have to add to his description only that the first two 

 incomplete bronchial rings are partly calcified, that the bronchi 

 are relatively rather long, and that the distal bronchial rings 

 are practically complete. On the most careful examination, I 

 could find no trace of anything corresponding to what Beddard 

 took to be fibrous vestiges of the intrinsic muscles present in 

 Herons ; they were as completely absent as in Storks. I cannot 

 follow Beddard, moreover, in his view that the structure of the 

 syrinx is " conclusively in favour of regarding Balcpniceps as a 

 Heron and not as a Stork." So far as the syrinx of Balceniceps 



