HTUDriOH OF TiriO MA^OROCirrRKH. 



317 



any perceptible (loparturcH rroiii audi HtriutiuroH an we find tfuun 

 in Lftnius (see Contrib. AiiiiL Birds, pi. xiv. fi<^m. 03, 95, and 

 100). 



The blade of a scapula in sabre-shaped, long and narrow, and 

 anteriorly abuts again.st the laterally cornpreHHcd and expanded 

 end of the furcula of the corrcHponding Hide. The Hhaf't of a 

 coracoid is long, slender, and subeylindrical in form. Its clavi- 

 cular head is tuberoun, being hooked forwards and inwards. 



furcula typifies the U-shaped pattern of this bone, and I 

 would especially call attention here to the form of its hypo- 

 cleidium in Ampelis. Tiiis process is a long, suhoval, laterally 

 compressed lamina of bone, directed upwards and backwards 

 towards the manubrium, when tlie girdle is articulated in hUu. 

 My figures, already referred to above, of Lanius and Olocoris 

 show very well this form of the hypocleidium of the furcula. 



Now in Tyrannus vcrticalis, takim as representing the Clama- 

 torial grouj) of birds, this process of the furcula is nearly circular 

 in outline, and decidedly smaller. Little points of this kind, 

 when they are found to be constant, should be borne in mind 

 here, for they will surely arise again, when we come to see how 

 such characters are exhibited among the Macrochires. 



28. Of the Appendicular Hkeleton. — Not only in the case of 

 Ampelis, but with the Passerine birds generally, the composi- 

 tion, forms, and structure of the skeleton of the limbs are so 

 well known, that 1 will not here attempt to add anything to this 

 part of my subject. So far as the bones are concerned, I fail to 

 find, even upon close scrutiny, any reliable set of characters 

 that one could use with certainty in deciding in any case whether 

 the skeleton of a leg or a wing belonged to an Oscinine or a 

 Clamatorial bird. 



When we come to deal further on with the skeletal limbs of 

 the Macrochires and others, where such characters as are present 

 in these parts in the Passeres can be, if ever, usefiilly compared, 

 it will then b(,' ample time to bring them forward for comparison, 

 and decide whether these structures af!brd anytliing helpful in 

 determining affinities. To recapitulate here the well-known points 

 in the skeleton of tfie limbs in a Passerine bird would, I am 

 sure, avail us nothing. 



Suffice it to observe that in its organization Ampelis is by the 

 majority of its structural characters an Oscinine bird, though 



25* 



