460 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vor. XXXV. 
VERTEBRAL 
SCREAMER. SWAN. TURKEY. 
COLUMN. 
Limbs. Pelvic limb anser- | Hypotarsus of | Hypotarsus very 
ine with long tarso-metatarsus different from 
odal digits. somewhat like that process in 
Cnemial. proc- that of the Palamedea. 
esses of tibio- screamer. : 
the swans and 
From an osteological point of view the screamers are 
extremely puzzling forms. Had we only the skull of Pala- 
medea cornuta to judge from, there is no question but that 
avian taxonomers would have placed that species close to the 
gallinaceous group of birds, its desmognathous palate notwith- 
standing. We obtain but little light on the subject by the 
comparisons made of its vertebral column and pelvis, though 
in thelatter we meet with some characters that seem to suggest 
an affinity with the storks. 
Had we but its shoulder-girdle and sternum to judge from, it 
is quite questionable in my mind that from these bones alone 
its anserine affinities, or such as it may possess, would have been 
suspected, and it is only when the characters of these are taken 
in connection with others now known to us, that such a belief 
gains support. We should never suspect Palamedea of having 
any kinship with the Anseres were we to judge from the skel- 
eton of its wing alone, though it is very likely that such a 
relation would have been suspected had we only the bones of 
the pelvic extremities to guide us. 
Taken as a whole, the anserine characters of the skeleton of 
Palamedea, however, are more evident than those of any other 
group of the class, but these characters are neither typical nor 
are they strongly marked. Such galline characters as are 
exhibited in its skeleton are far more typical and most decidedly 
more evident. But neither its anserine nor its galline osteo- 
logical characters are sufficiently pronounced to justify us ": 
arranging the screamers either along with the Anseres or the 
