NOTES ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF THE PARID^E, SITTA, AND CHAMiEA. BV Frederic A. Lucas, Assistant Cura/or of the Department of Comparative Anatomy. (With Plate XXVII). lu studying-any group of osciuine birds it is iuipossible, or at the best extremciy difficult, to tell where to stop, and the question is quite as often decided by the lack of material as by any other cause. Thus the present paper is the outcome of a study of the Mimina', which naturally included the Wrens also, acd from them led by way of Chanum to the Titmice, and but for the cause above mentioned might be indefinitely extended. Dealing chiefly with North American species these notes are naturally incomplete; but, as the accumulation, proper preparation, and study of osteological material are necessarily slow, they are put forth with an apology for not being more comparative in their nature. I give below a list of the species examined and all references to the Paridcc mean the group as thus represented. Paras major Parus inornatus ater gambeli carolinensia Pealtriparus plmubeus atricapillus iiiinimus niontanus Auripanis liaviceps budsouicus ^githalus caudatus c'ceruleus Chamtpa fasciata bicolor Sitta canadeusis. The above are all represented in the collections of the U. S. Museum, but I am indebted to Dr. E. W. Shufeldt for the privilege of examining a large number of specimens in his collection. In the genus Parus, as here represented, the brain case is large, the beak short, stout, and conical. The interorbital septum is well ossified up to the point of exit of the olfactory nerves, although small perforations may be present in the septum, as in Parus hicolor, hndsonicus, gambeli, and inor)iatus. The vacuity in the skull at the point of exit of the olfactory nerves is small; much larger in P. hudsonicKS than in any other species ex-amined. The premaxillaries and nasals fuse early in life, and are cut squarely across at their posterior extremities, where they are movably articulated with the frontals, as in parrots, the maxillary being also movably ar-ticulated with the premaxillary. Proceedings National Museum, Vol. XIII— No. 830. Proc. N. M. 90 22 337
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