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DE. E. W. SHUFELDT's MOEPHOLOGICAL 



a bird as Trogon puella and Geococcyx calif ornianus for instance. 

 Surely there must be a gap of no mean width when we come 

 to push them in that direction. Not long ago I published 

 (Proc. Zool. Soc. for 1887) some contributions to the anatomy 

 o£ Geococcyx, wherein, in my conclusions, I pointed out what 

 appeared to be the correct classification of the United States 

 Cuckoos, supporting Ga.rrod's original suggestion of placing the 

 true Cuckoos and Grround- Cuckoos in separate subfamilies. Still 

 maintaining, as I do, this opinion, I am free to confess that 

 I consider the subfamilies to be thus represented marJceclly 

 distinct, to say the least of it. Eor instance, how close to such a 

 bird as Coccyzus minor may Geococcyx be ? Notwithstanding 

 the zygodactyle foot in the latter (a character sometimes of 

 uncertain meaning), I have always entertained the notion that 

 some day we may see an affinity between Geococcyx and the I>a- 

 celonincB, as in Dacelo gigantea ; or, carrying it a little further, 

 a certain kinship with the Galhulidce, more particularly those 

 which possess the two carotid arteries and the myological 

 formula A . XT. But here, again, the proper material has never 

 yet been at my disposal. 



Since the appearance of my first contribution to the present 

 subject (P. Z. S. 1885), nothing has arisen in the course of 

 my more extended researches which has in any way modified 

 my original opinion in regard to the Caprimulgine birds, nor 

 have I anything to add to what I have already stated in the body 

 of the present memoir. They constitute the first group which I 

 propose to remove from the old Order Picari^, and for them I 

 create a separate Order, the Capeimulgi, first alluded to in my 

 previous paper, to contain all the true Caprimulgine birds of the 

 world, including such types as Steatornis, Podargus, Mgotlieles, 

 Nyctidromus, NyctiUus, Fsalurus, and others. 



These birds have their nearest kin iu the Owls, and they have 

 no special alBnity with the Cypseli, much less with the Trochili. 

 With our present knowledge of their structure, these Caprimul- 

 gine forms may easily be relegated within this Order to their 

 proper family and subfamily positions, and in a way, too, I think, 

 that would meet the approval of all, as it would be based entirely 

 upon the structural characteristics of the several and respective 

 types, the best and only guide in such matters. 



Coming now to the Hirundinidw, I see in these fissirostral 

 OscininePasseresa groupof birds, which, although they still possess 

 in their organization a majority of the structural characters of 



