BIEDS OF NOKTH AND MIDDLE AMEEIOA, 489 



66. Palate desmognathous; palatines broad throughout, only slightly expanded 

 posteriorly; vomer pointed anteriorly; premaxillary enormously large, con- 

 stituting about anterior half of skull, completely ossified, only slightly con- 

 tracted anteriorly, with lateral outlines convex; basipterygoid processes 



absent; oil-gland absent Fodargi (extraUmital) fl 



aa. Dorsal vertebrae opisthocoelous (concave behiad;) palatines united medially, not 

 expanded posteriorly, and without latero-posterior processes; rostrum movably 

 articulated with skull; myological formula XY Steatomithes (extralimital).* 



Superfamily O^PRIMXTX-G-I. 

 THE GOATSTTCKHRS. 



=Capnmulgidx Stejneger, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 1885, 387. — Fuebbeinger, 

 Unters. Morph. Syst. Vog., ii, 1888, 1337.— Shaepb, Hand-list, ii, 1900, 78. 

 =Caprimulgi Sharpe, Rev. Classif. Birds, 1891, 81; Hand-list, ii, 1900, 78. 



Schizognathous (or very rarely desmognathous) NycticoracisB with 

 palatiaes slender anteriorly and enormously expanded posteriorly, 

 vomer truncate anteriorly, premaxillary moderately developed or 

 relatively small (constituting much less than anterior half of the 

 skull), incompletely ossified, strongly cdntracted anteriorly, with 

 straight or slightly concave lateral outlines; basipterygoid processes 

 and oil-gland present. 



Two carotid arteries; myological formula AXY; feet anisodactyle 

 (flexor tendons of type Va), the hallux connected with the flexor 

 perforans digitorum; caeca present; oil-gland small, nude; a long 

 second pectoral muscle; gall-bladder present (except in CTiordeiles) ; 

 spinal pteryla well-defined on neck, forked on upper back; aftershaft 

 present; rectrices 10; primaries 10; secondaries 12-15. 



a =Podarginae Bonaparte, Prodr. Syst. Om., 1840, 4; Cabanis, in Wiegmann's 

 Archiv fiir Naturg., xiii, pt. i, 1847, 343; Cabania and Heine, Mus. Hein., ii, 1860, 

 123; Gray, Hand-list, i, 1869, 53. — =Podargidx Stejneger, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 

 1885, 387; Fuerbringer, Unters. Morph. Syst. Vog., ii, 1888, 1567; Sharpe, Hand- 

 list, ii, 1900, 42.—=Podargi Sharpe, Eev. Classif. Bii'ds, 1891, 79; Hand-list, ii, 

 1900, 42.>Podargidae Gadow, Bronn's Thier-Reich, Vog., ii, 1891, 242, 300 (includes 

 Iffyciihiidse). "^Steatornithinae Bonaparte, Consp. Av., i, 1850, 8 (=SteatomithidsB-f- 

 Podargidse-I-Nyctibiidse) . 



The Podargi (Frogmouths) comprise two well-marked families, Podargidse and 

 .ffigothelidse, and are peculiar to the Indian and Australian Regions, being most 

 numerously developed in the Indo-Malayan and Austro-Malayan Subregions. 



6 "^Steatorninae Cabanis, in Wiegmann's Archiv fiir Naturg., i, 1847, 346 (includes 

 Nyctibiidse). '^Steatornithinx Bonaparte, Consp. Av., i, 1850, 47 (includes Podargi 

 and Nyctibiidse); =Steatornithinae Cabanis and Heine, Mus. Hein., iii, 1860, 95; 

 Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1866, 127, 130; Gray, Hand-list, i, 1869, 55. =Stea- 

 tornithidse Sclatev and Salvia, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, 97; Fuerbringer, Unters. Morph. 

 Syst. Vog., ii, 1888, 1339. =HeterospondyU Cope, Am. Nat., xxiii, Oct., 1889, 871, 

 873. =SteatornithesSha,rpe, Rev. Rec. At. Classif. Birds, 1891, 79; Hand-list, ii, 1900, 42. 

 ■ The Steatomithes (Guacharo or Oil Bird) comprise a single family, Steatomithidse, 

 represented by a single monotypic genus, peculiar to northern South America. 



