Osteologically, the various species of the Bombycillidae are remarkably similar. Small variations do exist, but these are primarily differences in relative size. The modifications of the beak enable palm-chats to feed on parts of plants, and the beak of _Phainoptila_ shows some similarity in this respect. Rounded wings, which cause a bird to fly by means of short, relatively weak strokes, are correlated with a comparatively long humerus, whereas long and pointed wings, which enable a bird to fly with more powerful strokes of the wing, are correlated with a relatively short humerus. There is a positive correlation between a short humerus and a long external condyle, and between a long humerus and the absence or smallness of the external condyle. In the Bombycillidae short bones of the leg are adaptive, and long bones of the leg are the generalized condition. Although all passerine birds were differentiated relatively late in geologic time, long hind limbs still could have been present in the immediate ancestors of passerine birds. As adaptive radiation took place in the class Aves, some birds, the Bombycillidae included, became more and more adapted for an arboreal, and eventually an aerial habitat, with consequent loss of saltatorial and running ability. Birds, like mammals, have a short femur, the most proximal element in the leg, if the species is adapted to run fast. If the species is not adapted to run fast, birds, unlike mammals, have the tibiotarsus longer than any of the other elements; in mammals that are not adapted to run fast, the femur and tibia are approximately the same length. In non-running birds as compared with running birds, the leg element distal to the tibiotarsus, and the one proximal to it, are considerably shortened. In waxwings, all three elements of the hind limb are shortened, indicating that the reduction in length has been, evolutionarily speaking, a rapid process, in order to reduce the limbs to a convenient size as soon as possible. The shape of the pygostyle varies in the Bombycillidae, but the simple shieldlike bone of _Phainoptila_ is judged to resemble closely the ancestral type. In _Ptilogonys_ there is a tall dorsal spine, coupled with a wide and heavy centrum and flattened lateral areas, for support of the long rectrices. In _Bombycilla_ the bone is small with knobs on the centrum that have been developed for muscle attachment. The muscles were carefully dissected in each genus and in most of the species. The same homologous muscles are present in all species. Significant differences were found only in the relative size of certain muscles. No satisfactorily accurate method of measuring these differences was found. Consequently, less use was made of the results of the dissections than was originally planned.