CAKINATiE. 7 



group, the keel is greatly reduced in size, and the power of flight is almost or, 

 entirely lost. The division of Carinate birds into orders and families, and the 

 mutual relations of these groups one to another, are subjects of great difficulty, 

 and upon which zoologists are by no means as yet agreed. 



The CARiNATiE are again separated into orders according to their palatal bones, 

 viz. — 



(A) Having the vomer hroad behind. 



(B) Having the vomer narrow behind. 



The vomer (vomer, a ploughshare), which is the key to the classification, varies 

 more than almost any bone in the skull of a bird. It is a email bone, thin as a^ 

 knife-blade, and rarely broader, standing on its edge in the very centre of the 

 roof of the bird's mouth, a bone so delicate that it is one of the first to vanish, 

 when the student in search of it first prepares a skull. 



(A) The Dromoeognath^, or birds with vomer hroad behind, are repre- 

 sented by the single family Tinamidm of America. (Note. — All Katite birds' 

 possess this form.) 



(B) Among birds with vomer narrow behind a further separation ocsurs, 

 according as the maxillo-palatines (bones on each side of the vomer) are free (a)^ 

 arrested (^), or united (7) ; and again with those having the maxillo-palatines 

 free a further distinction is drawn according as the former is pointed (i.) or trun- 

 cated (ii.) in front. 



Thus by taking as a basis the modifications introduced by Professors Newton 

 and Parker, in communication with Professor Huxley, as set forth in the 

 Encyclopoedia Britannica, and combining therewith later information, a full 

 morphological classification of the CAEiNATiE can be prepared. 



(B) The ScHizoGNATH^ai {a-xi^ia, to cleave), or birds with vomer narrow behind,' 

 pointed in front (i.); maxillo-palatines free (typical skull, C. pluvialis, the Golden' 

 Plover), embracing nine groups of allied families ; viz. — 



Stone Curlews, Crab Plovers, Coursers, 

 Pratincoles, Jajands, Turnstones, Lap- 

 wings, Plovers, Oyster Catchers, Stilt?i 

 Avocets, Curlews, Godwits, Sandpipers, 

 Ruffs, Stints, Phalaropes, Woodcocks, 

 Snipes, etc. 



(10) CecomorphcB (the Gulls) f^*^"'' T^™^' Noddies, ScissorbiUs, Skuas, 



/gv^ g^ Q^jjj \ ^ Petrels, Albatrosses, Divers, Grebes, 



I Eazorbills, Auks, etc. 

 A single family Apterodytidce, comprising 

 three genera, JEudyptes, Spheniscus, and 

 Apterodytes. 



(12) G'erano?worp^(5s(part)(theCranea)/Eails, Crakes, Moorhens, Watercocks, Fin- 

 (Vipavo's — a Crane.) \ feet. Cranes, Bustards, etc. 



Pea-Fowls, Jungle-Fowls, Pheasants, Spur- 

 Fowls, Partridges, Quails, Bush Quails, 

 Hill Partridges, Wood Partridges, Snow 

 Cocks, Snow Partridges, Grouse, Mega- 

 podes, Curassows, etc. 



(9) CharadriomorpTioB (the Plovers) 

 (xajoaS/3to9 — a Sea Lark.) 



(11) Spheniseojnorphce (the Penguins) 

 (Spheniscus — a Penguin.) 



(13) Alectoromorphm (the Fowls) 

 ('AXiKTiop — a Cock.) 



