ai4 STRUCTURE AND CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS 



margin of pectoralis. The main tract itself is also only two 

 feathers broad. It sends off, about halfway down sternal keel, 

 a short curved outer branch, which runs outwards and then 

 forwards towards axilla, nearly meeting a second outer branch 

 which is given off by the tract on opposite side to the inner 

 branch, already spoken of. The dorsal tract has a slight 

 break ; the very short interscapular fork is of strong feathers 

 and connected with posterior part only by a very few 

 feathers which are weak and arranged uniserially. 



The tongue is long and thin, tapering to a filament ante- 

 riorly ; a gall bladder seems to be absent. In a specimen of 

 G. rufoviridis the intestinal measurements were as follows : 

 s. i., 4-15 inches ; 1. i., 'TS inch ; caeca, •? inch. 



The GalbulidsB have an expansor secundariorum, but no 

 biceps slip. The tensor patagii brevis tendon oi Galbulah&s 

 no wristward slip. It is merely a single tendon ; in Urogalba 

 there is a wristward slip. 



In the leg the formula of Galbula is AXY, of Urogalba* 

 AX, both birds, of course, lacking the ambiens. The glutceus 

 I. and V. are absent, at any rate in Galbula. The plantar 

 tendons are picine. 



Both carotids are present. 



The skull of the Galbulidae is very like that of the Bucco- 

 nidae ; but there are nevertheless points of difference. 



In Urogalba paradisea there is a long gap in the bony 

 palate in front of the conjoined maxillo-palatines, as in Bucco- 

 nidae ; but the palatines are more sloped off posteriorly, and 

 their posterior halves are more closely in contact. The de- 

 scending process of the lacrymal is broader, and it is perforated 

 by a large foramen. In Jacamerops and Galbula, on the 

 other hand, the descending process of the lacrymal is very 

 slender. 



The ectethmoids are large and the interorbital and intra- 

 narial septa complete. 



There are fourteen cervical vertebra ; the sternum has 

 two pairs of incisions. 



