222 The Naturalist in La Plata. 



sematous — that is, bloated and yielding to pressure. 

 It crackles when touched, and the surface, when 

 the feathers are removed, presents a swollen bubbly 

 appearance ; for under the skin there is a layer of 

 air-bubbles extending over the whole body and even 

 down the legs under the horny tesselated skin to 

 the toes, the legs thus having a somewhat massive 

 appearance. 



And now just a few words about the position 

 of the screamer in systematic zoology. It is placed 

 in the Family Palamedeida3, which contains only 

 three species, but about the Order it belongs to 

 there is much disagreement. It was formerly 

 classed with the rails, and in popular books of 

 Natural History still keeps its place with them. 

 " Now the rail-tribe," says Professor Parker, speak- 

 ing on this very matter, " has for a long time been 

 burdened (on paper) with a veiy false army list. 

 Everything alive that has had the misfortune to be 

 possessed of large unwieldy feet has been added to 

 this feeble-minded cowardly group, until it has 

 become a mixed multitude with discordant voices 

 and with manners and customs having no consonance 

 or relation." He takes the screamer from the rail- 

 tribe and classes it with the geese (as also does 

 Professor Huxley), and concludes his study with 

 these words : — " Amongst living birds there is not 

 one possessing characters of higher interest, none 

 that I am. acquainted with come nearer, in some 

 important points, to the lizard ; and there are parts 

 of the organization which make it very probable 

 that it is one of the nearest living relations of the 

 marvellous Archceopteryx " — an intermediate form 



