CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 521 



B. The vomer narrow behind ; the pterygoids and palatines articulating 

 largely with the basisphenoidal rostrum. 



a. The maxillo-palatines free. 



1. The vomer pointed in front : — ScHlZ0GNATH/«. 

 The plovers, gulls, penguins, cranes, fowls, sand- 

 grouse, pigeons, the hoatzin, the goat-suckers, the 

 humming-birds. 



2. The vomer truncated in front : — ^githognath^. 

 The passerines, swifts, and the hemipods. 



3. The vomerine halves permanently distinct, and the 

 maxillo-palatines arrested : — SaurognatH/E. 



The woodpeckers. 



b. The maxillo-palatines united : — Desmognath^. 



The birds of prey, parrots, cuckoos and kingfishers, 

 ducks and geese, flamingoes, storks, and cormorants. 



We shall now give a list of the different orders of Carinate birds, as at 

 present recognised by P. L. Sclater, Newton, and other authorities. 



Passeres : — the largest order, with about six thousand species — more 

 than half the total number of known birds, including thrushes, 

 wrens, warblers, tits, swallows, creepers, finches, crows, pies, jays, 

 starlings, and birds of paradise. 



Picariee : — a somewhat heterogeneous order, of about eighteen hundred 

 species, characteristically tropical, including cuckoos, plantain- 

 eaters, the oil-bird (Steaiornis), Podargus, goat-suckers or night- 

 jars, bee-eaters, mot-mots, kingfishers, hornbills, hoopoes, toucans, 

 woodpeckers, wrynecks, trogons, swifts, and humming-birds. 



Psittaci : — parrots, cockatoos, and their allies. 



Striges : — the owls. 



Accipitres : — the diurnal birds of prey, such as eagles, hawks, falcons, 

 and vultures. 



Steganopodes : — the pelicans, frigate-birds, albatrosses, cormorants, 

 gannets, and darters. 



Herodiones : — the herons, storks, spoon-bills, and ibises. 



Odontoglossae : — the flamingoes. 



Palmedeae : — the American screamers. 



Anseres : — the ducks and geese. 



Columb^ : — the pigeons, and the exterminated Dodo and Solitaire. 



Pterocletes : — the sand-grouse, Pterocles and Syrrhaptes. 



Gallinse : — the pheasants, fowls, grouse, curassows, and megapodes. 



Opisthocomi: — including only one bird, Opisthocomus, — an "archaic 

 curassow " with remarkable reptilian affinities. 



FulicariEe : — the rails, coots, and water-hens. 



Alectorides ; — the cranes, and perhaps the bustards. 



Limicolse : — the curlews and plovers. 



Gavise : — the gulls and terns. 



Pygopodes : — the guillemots and grebes, divers and auks (including 

 the exterminated great auk). 



Turbinares : — the petrels. 



Impennes : — the penguins. 



Crypturi : — the Tinamous. 



