HERODIONES 441 



no such connection occurs in either stork or flamingo. That 

 the deep flexor tendons of Phoenicopterus are not stork-hke is 

 surely related to the diminutive hallux of that genus. 



On the other hand the accessory femorocaudal, though 

 small, is present in the flamingo, though absent in the storks,^ 

 while the syrinx (fig. 209) is not stork-Hke. The cceca are 

 long (three inches), but the intestines are not duck-like. 



The atlas is notched by the odontoid process, and the 

 notch is very nearly converted into a foramen. There are 

 nineteen cervical vertebrae. None of the catapophyses fuse 

 to form a canal. The transition between catapophyses and 

 hsemapophyses is more complete than in most birds ; on the 

 last cervical the two catapophyses are raised on a common 

 platform, and on the first dorsal is the first (and last) haema- 

 pophysis, which is flattened and obscurely bifid. The last 

 cervical and the first three dorsals are fused. Five ribs 

 reach the single-notched sternum. The coracoids overlap at 

 their insertion. 



The skull is desmognathous, with basipterygoid processes, 

 to which the anterior ends of the pterygoids are attached. 

 It is holorhinal with pervious nostrils. There are lateral 

 occipital fontanelles. The lacrymals are large and rather 

 duck-like, notched externally ; they nearly reach the jugal 

 bar. There are no ossified ectethmoids. 



In including the Plataleidse and Ibididae with the Hero- 

 diones I shall have the assent of most ornithologists. Alone 

 among recent observers who have occupied themselves with 

 the structure of the group, Gaeeod and Forbes placed the 

 spoonbills and ibises apart. The latter included them in his 

 group Pluviales with the Charadrii, Bhinochetus, &c. These 

 diverse opinions about the Plataleidse appear to me to be 

 largely due to the primitive position which they occupy 

 among the Herodiones. They are to my thinking not far from 

 a basal " gralUne ' stock. The Plataleidse have the complete 

 muscle formula, and the biceps sHp to the patagium. Some of 

 these muscles have been lost in the other Herodiones, in which 

 ' With the partial exception noted on p. 425, footnote. 



