168 
GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY. 
whole hyoid apparatus of the woodpeckers is specially modified ; the basihyal is very long 
and slender, hearing stunted cerato- and glosso-hyals at its extreme end ; there is no uro- 
hyal, or only a rudiment ; the cerato-hranchials are long, and the epibranchials so extraordi- 
narily elongated in some species as to curl up over the hack of the skull and forward along the 
top of the skull to a variable distance ; sometimes, as in fig. 73, curling around the orbit of the 
eye, or, as in fig. 74, running into the nostril to the tip of the beak. In such cases they 
bundle together in passing forward over the skull, and go obliquely to one side. (Derivation 
of the terms in this paragraph: hydl is another form of hijoid; branchial, Lat. hrancliice, 
gills J hasi-, Lat. basis, base; cerato-, Gr. Ke/jay, Keparos, Jceras, Jceratos, horn; epi-, Gr. eni, 
epi, upon; stylo-, Lat. stylus, a pen; glosso-, Gr. yXaio-o-a, glossa, tongue; uro-, Gr. ovpa, 
Other Bones of the Skull. — 
The articulation of the lowei- jaw 
with the quadrate may have certain 
sesamoids. Thus, there are two 
such sclerosteous or ligament-bones 
in the external lateral ligament of 
the raven's jaw-joint, and the long 
occipital style of the cormorant and 
snake -bird is of the same character, 
being an ossification in the nuchal 
ligament of the neck. The siphon- 
like tube which ccmveys air from 
the outer ear-passage to the hollow 
of the mandible may ossify, as it 
does in an old raven, resulting in 
a neat tubular ''air-bone" or at- 
mosteon (Gr. arfios, air). 
Types of Palatal Structure. — 
The arrangement of the bones of the 
palate in birds results in several 
types of structure, first defined by 
Huxley and applied to the classification of birds. These are the dromceognatlious, schizog- 
nathoiis, desmognathous and cegitliognatlious ; to which Parker has added the saurognathous. 
Huxley proposed to make the primary division of Carinate birds upon this score ; and since 
the plan could not be made to work in his hands, it is certainly futile for any one else to 
demonstrate again the impossibility of establishing the higher groups of birds upon any one 
set of characters, — upon the modifications of any one structure. Nevertheless, when duly 
co-ordinated with other characters, palatal structure becomes of the utmost importance in 
defining large groups of birds. It is necessary, therefore, for the student to clearly understand 
this matter, which I will lay before him as nearly as possible in the words of the authors 
just mentioned. 
Dromseognathism (Gr. dpofiaios, dromaios, a runner: genus-name of the emeu). — All the 
Ratite birds, and the tinamous alone of Carinate birds, are di'omcBognathous. "The posterior 
ends of the palatines and the anterior ends of the pterygoids are very imperfectly, or not at all, 
articulated with the basisphenoidal rostrum, being usually separated from it, and supported by 
the broad, cleft, hinder end of the vomer. Strong basipterygoid processes, arising from the 
aura, tail ; thyro-, Gr. dvpeos, thureos, a shield.) 
Figs. 73, 74. —Under fig. side view of a woodpecker's (Picus) 
skull, showing the long slender basihyal ( bh), bearing slight elements 
at its fore end, no uroyhal, and extraordinarily long thyrohyals 
{cbr, ehr) curving up over back of skull and curling together around 
orbit of the right eye. Upper fig. top view of skull of Colaptes, 
showing thyrohyals running along the skull and into right nostril 
to end of the bill. (Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U. S. A.) 
