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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXXVII. 



12. Galbulicke. 



13. Trochili, many species. 



14. Cypseli, various species. 



15. Momotus. 



Also incidentally the representative of several other groups, 

 as the woodpeckers, Caprimulgi, and the toucans. 



I am indebted to the United States National Museum for the 

 loan of some of the material used in the preparation of the pres- 

 ent memoir, and to that institution my thanks are due. as they 

 are to Mr. F. A. Lucas for the loan of the skeleton of Alccdo 

 ispida from his own collection. For the trogan skeletons 1 

 have pleasure in thanking Dr. Sclater, late Secretary of the 

 Zoological Society of London; and the skeletons of Geococcyx, 

 Mr. Herbert Brown of Yuma, Arizona. A number of the swifts 

 and goatsuckers were kindly sent me by Mr. Jno. H. Sage of 

 Portland, Ct., Mr. Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., of the U. S. National 

 Museum, and Dr. A. K. Fisher of the U. S. Dept. of Agricul- 

 ture. Many humming-birds and much of the other material has 

 been supplied me by Messers F. Stephens, H. K. Coale, Luther 

 N. Rossiter, H. W. Henshaw, J. G. Parker, F. M. Hasbrouck, 



thanks. Not a few of these specimens, now types of descrip- 

 tions, are in the collections of the British Museum, and the 

 Royal College of Surgeons of Fngland. 



With this preliminary introduction I am now prepared to 

 pass to the consideration of the comparative osteology of the 

 kingfishers (Alcedinidae) employing primarily for this purpose 



Alccdo ispida. These I will not only endeavor to carefully inter- 

 compare, but in turn, compare them with the skeletons of the 

 various species and material set forth in the above list. 



In my conclusions I shall have something to say regarding the 

 relationships of the Halcyones to other groups of birds. 



The Skull. — By referring to the figures, herewith presented, 

 illustrating the skeleton of our common kingfisher (C. alcyon), 

 it will be noted that the superior osseous mandible of Ceryle is 

 considerably longer than the remaining part of the skull, being in 

 fact a three-sided pyramid, with a broad base and sharp-pointed 



