628 R. W. SHUFELDT 



umbellus, which I figure in my Osteology of Birds, published by the 

 New York State Museum at Albany (PL VI, Fig. 26). 



Anteriorly, the bone is broad, with its iliac borders rounded, the 

 lateral margins being concaved inward toward the sacrum. This 

 latter, on its ventral aspect, presents a longitudinal, median furrow, 

 which extends posteriorly as far back as a point opposite the aceta- 

 bulae. This, taken in connection with the decided enlargement of 

 the sacrum between the cotyloid cavities and its anterior termina- 

 tion, presents us with a very common character of the pelvis in 

 gallinaceous birds generally. It is well shown in the pelvis of Cen- 

 trocercus. In these gallinaceous birds, too, the anterior sacral 

 vertebra is always prominently produced downward through the 

 form of its centrum, a feature to be noticed in the pelvis of any 

 typical tetraonine species. 



Posteriorly, this pelvis is likewise broad, with the free margins 

 of its ilia behind unnotched in any way. The pubic elements are 

 slender in form and of nearly uniform proportions throughout, while 

 posteriorly they extend for some little distance beyond the ilia. 

 In fact, they agree, as do all the other characters of this pelvis, with 

 the corresponding ones in the pelvis of any typical tetraonine 

 species of the present time (Fig. 2). 



In the gallinules and other rail-like birds, the pelvis possesses an 

 entirely different character, it being much narrower throughout, 

 with anteriorly truncated ilia and other features, which are clearly 

 to be observed in my figure of the pelvis of Porzana Carolina referred 

 to above. 



Further, I have stated that "in a great many particulars, Por- 

 zana, Crex, Rallus, lonornis, Fulica, and Gallinula agree in their 

 osteology,"^ and this, in all probability, is true of the remainder 

 of their morphology. 



The sternum and shoulder-girdle. — Little need be said by way of 

 description of the sternum of this specimen, for it is so typically 



^ R. W. Shufeldt, "On the Osteology of Certain Cranes, Rails, and Their Allies, 

 with Remarks upon Their Affinities," Jour. Anat. and Phys., London XXIX (October, 

 1894), N.S., IX, Part I, art. 5, pp. 21-34. Text figures. A paper on the descriptive 

 osteology of all the species constituting this group of birds in North America has 

 recently been accepted for publication by the Anatomical Record (Wistar Institute, 

 Philadelphia) and will appear in due course. — R. W. S. 



