STUDIES OF THE MACROCHIEES. 



343 



pterylosis of the European bird as described by Nitzsch in a few 

 well-marked particulars, and that both of these forms again differ 

 in this particular from CJiordeiles, to say nothing of the 

 further departures which we find when we come to compare 

 both Whip-poor-wills and Nightjars with such types as Nyciornis 

 grandis and some others. 



No doubt further on we shall find that still more striking dif- 

 ferences in pterylosis exist among the Caprimulgi and the Swifts 

 and Humming-birds, to say nothing of what may be discovered 

 between the last two groups in this regard. 



Before concluding what I have to say about this character 

 in the Caprimulgi, it should be observed that although they 

 differ among themselves in their pterylography, there is a certain 

 general similarity of pattern in them all, the fundamental cha- 

 racters of which are probably well exemplified in our Antro- 

 stomus, as shown in figs. 9 and 10 ; while the departures from it 

 may be easily made clear and apparent by the most superficial 

 comparison of the several genera, as I have attempted to point 

 them out or directed attention to those already described by 

 Nitzsch. 



Observations on the Anatomy o/" Antrostomus apart from the 

 Skeleton. 



(^Comparisons with Chordeiles.) 



Thanks to the labours of Huxley, Miiller, Nitzsch, Macgillivray, 

 Cuvier, G-arrod, and Forbes, and to an admirable paper by 

 Mr. Frank E. Beddard, the present Prosector to the Zoological 

 Society of London (P. Z. S. 1880, p. 147), mucli is already known 

 of the anatomy of the most prominent representatives of the 

 order Caprimulgi. 



In the present connection 1 shall attempt little more than a 

 verification of the observations of these trustwortliy writers by 

 dissections of the material I have at hand, and thus fill in the 

 scheme of my memoir. 



First, then, in the two specimens before me, witli a scalpel I 

 carefully remove the integument entirely from the head and 

 down as far as the root of tlie neck. This done, the first 

 thing that strikes us is that we can easily discern the form of the 

 superior aspect of the brain even through the skull-walls, which 

 have here been rendered more or less transparent by soaking 



