270 ELEMENTS OF OENITHOLOGT, 



The characters of these groups are as follows : — 



Order VII. EAPTOEES. 



Beak raptorial ; claws long, strong, much curved, and very 

 sharp ; young born helpless and either with down or, if naked, 

 then soon passing through a downy stage ; plantar tendons 

 united ; maxillo-palatiues united in the middle line ; palate 

 neither segithognathous nor schizognathous ; spinal feather-tract 

 forked on upper back ; sternum not perforated for coracoids ; 

 nasals not schizorhinal ; dorsal vertebrae not opisthocoelous ; 

 cervical vertebrae not more than 18 ; mandible not produced 

 backwards beyond the quadrate ; hallux with more than one 

 phalanx ; oil-gland present and tufted or nude ; caeca present or 

 absent. 



Suborder 1. Falcones. 



Basipterygoid processes absent ; spinal feather-tract well 

 defined on the neck ; oil-gland with a circlet of feathers ; tarso- 

 metatarsus not very elongated ; amhiens and femoro-cavddl pre- 

 sent ; accessory femoro-caudal, semitendinosus, and accessory semi- 

 tendinosus absent ; basal phalanx of third digit not generally 

 shortened ; nostrils not perforated through ; dorsal vertebrse 

 heterocoelous ; hallux supplied hj flexor hallncis; an organ of 

 voice present. 



Suborder 2. Serpentarii. 



Palate desmognathous ; basipterygoid processes well deve- 

 loped ; spinal feather-tract well defined on the neck ; oil-gland 

 tufted ; tarsi (tarso-metatarsals) very elongated ; no femoro- 

 caudal, but accessory femoro-caudal, semitendinosus, and accessory 

 semitendinosus present ; basal phalanx of third digit not greatly 

 shortened ; hallux supplied hj flexor hallucis ; an organ of voice 

 present ; nostrils not perforated through. ' 



