1915.] Miller, Notes on Ptilosis. | [35 
began, and it is unlikely that this reduction took place independently in 
two or more groups. On this view the Cacatuide. and Stringopide form a 
group, or two groups, equal in value to all other Parrots combined.! This 
is contrary to Gadow’s scheme in which the suborder is divided into 
Trichoglossidee with Nestorinze, Loriinse, and Cyclopsittacine, and Psittacide 
with Stringopine, Cacatuine and Psittacine. The Cockatoos are a strongly 
marked group. The entire absence of green or blue in any species is very 
striking and among other characters are the presence of a crest and, in the 
skull, a peculiar orbital ring. 
The arrangement suggested does not appear to be contradicted by any 
other character and though it is here impracticable to pursue the subject 
further, it is evident that the first primary covert should be considered in 
any future attempts to elucidate the classification of the Parrots. 
Vestigial Eleventh Primary.— My determination of the number of pri- 
maries differs from the figures given by Gadow (Tierreich, 1893) in the case 
of the Pigeons, Bee-eaters, Rollers, Barbets, Toucans and Woodpeckers. 
Gadow states that the Pigeons have eleven primaries but I have failed 
to find even a trace of a vestigial eleventh quill in any of the twenty genera 
examined, including Calenas and Didunculus. Mitchell 2 credits Phlogenas 
— eruentata (= Phlegenas luzonica) with only nine primaries, but the two spe- 
cimens examined prove beyond a doubt that in this species, as in other 
Pigeons, there are normally ten fully developed primaries. 
In Nyctoornis amactus I find ten functional primaries and an extremely 
vestigial outermost, eleventh, only 5 mm. long. Merops has ten primaries, 
the tenth spurius; no trace of an eleventh. 
In the typical Rollers and the three families of Pici above mentioned 
there is in each case a minute vestigial eleventh primary. Examination 
proves this'to be the case in Coracias indicus and C. garrulus, Eurystomus 
ortentalis, Cyanops sp., Chotorhea corvina, Ramphastos ariel, R. brevicarinatus, 
Aulacorhynchus prasinus, Selenidera maculirostris, Colaptes auratus, Phlao- 
tomus pileatus, Brachypternus aurantius, Campephilus principalis and Dryo- 
bates pubescens. In the latter the vestige is but 2.5 mm. long, and in 
Chotorhea only 3 mm. It: is quite possible, therefore, that in some mem- 
bers of the group the eleventh primary has entirely disappeared. 
In his ‘ Birds of North and Middle America,’ Part VI, page 451, Mr. 
Ridgway states: “ Although the Momotide are said to possess 11 primaries, 
I have not been able to find more than 10 in any of the 7 genera.”’ There 
is no doubt, however, that in Momotus, at least, there are 11 primaries. In 
a 
1The Cacatuidse and Stringopidse are further mutually allied by the structure of the 
syrinx and its intrinsic muscle (Beddard). 
2 Journ. Linn. Soc. London, XVII, p. 213. 
