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ODONTOLCAE

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 978 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ODONTOLCAE ..COLYMBO-+PELARGO- ALECTOROMORPHAE..See also:

RATITAE MORPHAE MORPHAE NEORNITHES The Odontolcae seem to be an See also:early specialized offshoot of the Colymbo-Pelargomorphous See also:brigade, while the Ratitae represent a number of See also:side branches of early Alectoromorphae. The Ratitae branched off, probably during the See also:Eocene See also:period, from that still indifferent stock which gave rise to the Tinami+Galli+Gruiformes, when the members of this stock were still in See also:possession of those archaic characters which distinguish Ratitae from Carinatae. It follows that new See also:groups of Ratitae can no longer be See also:developed since there are no Carinatae living which still retain so many See also:low characters, e.g. configuration of the See also:palate, precoracoid, See also:pelvis, intestinal convolutions, copulatory See also:organ, &c. Loss of the See also:keel is co-ordinated with the See also:power of using the forelimbs for locomotion; although a " Ratite " See also:character, it is not sufficient to turn a Notornis, Cnenziornis or Stringops, not even a See also:Phororhacos into a_ member of the Ratitae. Another See also:branch of the Alectoromorphae, in particular of the Galliformes, when these were still scarcely separated from the Gruiformes, especially See also:rail-like birds, leads through Opisthocomi to the Cuculiformes. These are, again in an ascending direction, connected with the Coraciiformes, out of which have arisen the Passeriformes, and these have blossomed into the Oscines, which, as the See also:apotheosis of See also:bird See also:life, have conquered the whole inhabitable See also:world. (H. F. G.) BIRD-See also:LOUSE, any small See also:flat degenerate wingless neuropterous See also:insect of the See also:group Mallophaga, parasitic upon birds and mammals and feeding upon dermal excretions or upon the softer parts of See also:hair and feathers. The See also:term " biting-lice " is sometimes given to these parasites, in allusion to the mandibulate character of their mouth-parts, which serves to distinguish them at once from the true lice of the See also:order Rhynchota in which the jaws are haustellate. BIRD'S-See also:EYE, a name applied to various small See also:bright See also:flowers, especially those which have a small spot or " eye " in the centre. The primula is thus spoken of, on See also:account of its yello* centre,also the See also:adonis, or " See also:pheasant's eye," and the See also:blue See also:veronica, or germander speedwell.

The word is also applied to a sort of See also:

tobacco, in which the stalks (of a mottled See also:colour) are cut uto together with the leaves. From a similar sense comes the phrase " bird's-eye See also:maple," a speckled variety of maple-See also:wood, or the " bird's-eye handkerchief " mentioned in See also:Thackeray's novels.

End of Article: ODONTOLCAE

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