508 PODICIPEDID^ PODICIPES 



Family I. PODIOIPBDID^. 



Cervical vertebrae seventeen to twenty-one in number ; only the 

 left carotid present ; of the Garrodian thigh muscles only the acces- 

 sory femoro- caudal and the semitendinosus present ; twelve primaries ; 

 no distinguishable rectrices. 



The members of this family can be always at once distinguished 

 from all other birds by their curiously lobed toes and by the absence 

 of the rectrices. 



Genus I. PODICIPES. 



Type. 

 Podiceps, Lath. Suppl. Gen. Syn. p. 294 (1787) P. cristatus. 



Bill moderately long, straight and pointed, the eulmen slightly 

 down curved towards the tip ; nostrils pervious, at the base of the 

 upper mandible ; wings very short and rounded, the primaries 

 and secondaries nearly equal ; tail rudimentary, consisting of short 



Fig. 156. — Foot of Podicipes cristatus. x i 



downy feathers only, no rectrices ; tarsus shorter than the middle 

 toe and claw, compressed to form a ridge anteriorly and posteriorly, 

 where it is serrated, the sides with rows of transversely elongated 

 scales ; toes flattened, each with a broad lateral lobe or expansion, 

 coalescing at the base and not contracted at the joints, most deve- 

 loped on the inner side ; claws also flattened and forming part of 



