Coues, in his Osteology of Colymbus torquatus, leaves no doubt in our mind how he regards this projection of the tarso-metatarsus; this author says:—“The process of bone representing the os calcis, rises at the superior end of the bone, on its posterior aspect, as a very conspicuous crest.”
Professor Morse, in his Tarsus and Carpus of Birds (Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist., N. Y., Vol. X, 1872), speaks of the centrale, but not in connection with this process.
In the chick of Centrocercus I found that the centrale did not include this process, consequently in my Osteology of the Tetraonidæ (Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv., Vol. VI) I declared that this process had nothing whatever to do with the os calcis, and in the osteology of Lanius, termed it the tendinous process, from the fact that the flexor tendons in so many birds either pass over or through it. Now our young of Cinclus mexicanus, just before it leaves the nest, has its metatarsal bones still ununited, and crowned by a separate segment that has apparently ossified from one single centre, a segment that not only includes the centrale, but the entire process of which we have been speaking. So between Cinclus and Centrocercus we must still look for other forms to throw light upon this problem. The subject is an extremely engaging one for the ornithologist to look into and investigate.
The shaft of the tarso-metatarsus of this bird develops after the usual rule set forth in works upon the subject, and the same may be said of the phalanges.
The writer only hopes that his sketch, necessarily brief, and far from being exhaustive, will have at least the tendency to induce other ornithologists to record their observations upon this subject whenever the opportunity offers.
Our studies, as far as we have carried them, seem to point pretty conclusively to the fact that our American Dipper is quite closely related to the genus Siurus, and not far removed from some of the Wrens.
LIST OF BIRDS OBSERVED AT HOUSTON, HARRIS CO., TEXAS, AND IN THE COUNTIES MONTGOMERY, GALVESTON AND FORD BEND.
BY H. NEHRLING.
(concluded from p. [175].)
152. Ægialites vociferus Bonap. Killdeer Plover.[[101]]—Common resident throughout the year, but most abundant during the spring and fall migrations.