in the mutilated state above described, and joined in the Willughby and Ray treat these nonsensical stories as they deserve, and as was to be expected from their reputation as observers. The high value set upon these birds awakened the cupidity and the fraud of the Chinese, who made up from parrots, parakeets, and others, artificial birds of Paradise, so clumsily, however, that it is difficult to suppose that Seba, who figures three of them in the 60th plate of his first volume, could have been taken in by the manifest imposition; but there is nothing in the text to show that his suspicion was even excited; and this is the more extraordinary, as he figures two of the real species (plate 38 and plate 63) with sufficient accuracy. Linnæus, who has commemorated the fable of the want of feet in these birds by bestowing upon the species most extensively known the name of apoda,' because, as he observes, the older naturalists called it footless,' says that the food of this species consists of the largest butterflies. In the last edition of the Systema Natura Linnæus gives but two species of the birds of Paradise, to which he applies the generic name, Paradisea. These two species are Paradisea apoda and Paradisea regia. In Gmelin's edition the number of species is increased to eight, but one of them is the Paradise-Grakle. Ornithologists seem to agree in placing these birds either among the crows (Corvida) or in their immediate neighbourhood; and this, from the form of their beak and legs and from their habits to which we shall presently allude, appears to be their proper place. Vieillot has divided the Linnæan genus Paradisea into the following genera: 1. PAROTIA. Beak furnished with short feathers to just beyond the middle, slender, compressed laterally, notched and curved at the tip; hypochondrial plumes long, broad, and loose. Of this genus, Parotia sexsetacea, Paradisea aurea of Gmelin, Paradisea sexsetacea of Latham, the Sifilet of Buffon, is an example. The figure represents a male. Beak furnished at the base with small feathers directed forwards, slender, convex above, a little compressed at the sides, finely jagged and bent towards the tip; hypochondrial feathers broad, elongated, and truncated. Of this genus, Cincinnurus regius, Paradisea regia of Linnæus, King-bird of Paradise of Petiver, who has this note, brought from the Molucca Islands, and rarely to be seen here but in the cabinets of the most curious, as with Dr. Sloan, and in the repository of the Royal Society,' and Le Manucode of Buffon,-is given as an example: the figure represents a male. Parotia sexsetacea [Cincinnurus regius.] Beak robust, convex above, furnished at the base with velvet feathers, straight, compressed laterally, jagged towards the tip; hypochondrial feathers, very long, flexible, decomposed, or cervical plumes moderate and stiff. Of this there are two sections, the type being Paradisea magnifica of Latham, Le mugnifique of Buffon. But perhaps the most elegant of all these birds is that which is best known and most often seen, the Great Emerald, Le grand émeraude of the French, Paradisea apoda of Linnæus. [Paradisea apoda, mas.] The cuts, which are taken from Levaillant, may convey some very faint idea of the forms of these birds, whose beauty beggars all description. Even the magnificent works of Levaillant and Vieillot, splendid as they are, cannot represent the vivid and changing tints of the originals, though the former had the advantage of the pencil of Barraband, whose drawings have all the life and truth of portraits. To these works, and such as these, and to our museums, those who wish to have a distinct notion of what [Paradisca apoda, fem.] nature can produce in form and brilliancy of plumage, must repair. With the aid of those authors who have attempted a description in words, we shall endeavour to show the reader how the species here figured are clad. They are all inhabitants of New Guinea. Parotia sexsetacea, velvety-black.-Front and part of the top of the head furnished with small, fine, and stiff feathers, black and white, so as to form a greyish tuft or crest; each side of the head ornamented with three long black shafts or threads terminated by a black oval; feathers of the nape changeable golden green; flanks furnished with black, loosely-constructed feathers, which cover the wings and hide the tail feathers when the bird is in a state of repose, but are raised obliquely when it is in the least agitated; feathers of the throat large, scale-shaped, black in the centre, and bordered with iridescent green and gold; tailfeathers velvety with some long and floating feather-fibres; beak and feet black; length ten to eleven inches. Lophorina superba.-Velvet black, iridescent with green and violet; front adorned with two little tufts of a sooty black; shoulders covered with long feathers, which, rising upon the back and inclining backwards, clothe the bird with a kind of mantle which partially covers the wings; nape and lower part of the breast brilliant changeable golden green; throat black, shot with ruddy copper-colour; the lower feathers longer than the others, extending on each side over the front of the neck and breast, and forming a scaly cuirass brilliant with a reflection almost metallic: abdomen, beak, and feet black; length eight inches and threequarters: one of the most rare, if not the most rare. Cincinnurus regius.-Upper parts ruby-red; front and part of the head of a beautiful velvety-orange; a small black patch at the internal angle of the eye; chin of a brilliant yellow, becoming deeper on the throat, which is terminated by a transverse stripe of brown and a broad belt of metallic green; lower parts white-grey sometimes mingled with green; flanks with broad grey plumes, tra versed by two lines, one whitish, the other ruddy, termi nating in a brilliant emerald-green; lower wing-coverts yellow; tail-feathers of a red-brown, the two intermediate feathers having their places occupied by two long, naked, red shafts, whose feather-fibres are rolled up at the extremity so as to form a kind of battledore (palette) pierced at the centre, of a brilliant brownish green; beak azure blue; feet leaden grey; length from the end of the beak to the tip of the tail five inches and a half. Lesson describes the female as being reddish-brown above, reddish-yellow below, striped with brown; tail rectilinear. Paradisea magnifica.-Body above of a brilliant brown; base of the beak and front covered with short and thick feathers of a reddish-brown; top of the head and hinder part of it of an emerald-green; a double bundle of long devoured this splendid bird with my eyes; but my emotion was so great that I forgot to shoot at it, and did not recollect that I had a gun in my hand till it was far away. feathers cut square inserted upon the neck and the upper part of the back; the first composed of narrow, raised, reddish feathers spotted with black towards the extremity; the second of longer feathers lying upon the back of a 'One can scarcely have a just idea of the Paradise-birds straw-yellow, deeper towards the end; great wing-coverts from the skins which the Papuans sell to the Malays, and of a brilliant carmelite colour; quills yellow, brown in- which come to us in Europe. These people formerly hunted teriorly; tail-feathers brown; throat and breast mingled the birds to decorate the turbans of their chiefs. They call green and blue; sides of the breast brown-green; abdomen them mambéfore in their tongue, and kill them during the greenish-blue; beak yellow bordered with black; feet yel-night by climbing the trees where they perch, and shooting lowish-brown; two shafts turned circularly and terminating them with arrows made for the purpose, and very short, in a point, taking their origin on each side of the rump, which they make with the stem (rachis) of the leaves of a extend to nearly a foot beyond the tail; length from the palm (latanier). The campongs or villages of Mappia and end of the beak to the extremity of the tail-feathers (rec- of Emberbakène are celebrated for the quantity of birds trices) six inches and a half. which they prepare, and all the art of their inhabitants is Paradisea apoda.-Body above, breast, and abdomen, directed to taking off the feet, skinning, thrusting a little marroon-brown; front covered with close-set feathers of a stick through the body and drying it in the smoke. Some velvety-black, shot with emerald-green; top of the head more adroit, at the solicitation of the Chinese merchants, and upper part of the neck, citron-yellow; upper part of the dry them with the feet on. The price of a bird of Paradise throat, golden-green; front of the neck, violet-brown; flanks among the Papuans of the coast is a piastre at least. We adorned with bundles of very long plumes, with loose bar-killed, during our stay at New Guinea, a score of these bules of a yellowish white, slightly spotted towards the ex- birds, which I prepared for the most part. tremity with purpled red: these plumes extend far beyond the tail-feathers. Two long horny and downy shafts, furnished with stiff hairs, terminated in a point and elongated, take their rise on each side of the rump, and extend somewhat circularly to a length of nearly two feet. Beak, horncolour; feet, lead-colour; length from the end of the beak to the extremity of the tail-feathers (rectrices), thirteen inches. Female.-Front and fore-part of the neck of a deep marroon-brown; head, neck, and back, reddish-yellow; wings and tail of a deep and brilliant marroon colour; belly and breast, white; no floating plumes. This species, which is not so common as the little emerald (Paradisea Papuensis, Latham), inhabits the islands of Arou, Tidor, and Wagiou, as well as New Guinea. We owe the most modern account of these birds in a state of nature to M. Lesson, who, though he deeply laments his short stay at New Guinea (only thirteen days), appears to have made the best use of his time. The birds of Paradise,' says M. Lesson, or at least the emerald (Paradisea apoda, Linn.), the only species concerning which we possess authentic intelligence, live in troops in the vast forests of the country of the Papuans, a group of islands situated under the equator, and which is composed of the islands Arou, Wagiou, and the great island called New Guinea. They are birds of passage, changing their quarters according to the monsoons. The females congregate in troops, assemble upon the tops of the highest trees in the forests, and all cry together to call the males. These last are always alone in the midst of some fifteen females, which compose their seraglio, after the manner of the gallinaceous birds.' M. Lesson then gives the following extract from his journal, written on the spot. After observing that the birds of Paradise, with the exception of two species, were brought to the corvette, La Coquille, by the Papuans, and that the quantity afforded reason for supposing that these birds, so esteemed in Europe, were singularly multiplied in those countries, he thus continues: The manucode presented itself twice in our shooting excursions, and we killed the male and female. This species would seem to be monogamous, or perhaps it is only separated into pairs at the period of laying. In the woods, this bird has no brilliancy; its fine-coloured plumage is not discovered, and the tints of the female are dull. It loves to take its station on the teak-trees (Arbres de teck), whose ample foliage shelters it, and whose small fruit forms its nourishment. Its irides are brown, and the feet are of a delicate azure. The Papuans call it "saya." Soon after our arrival on this land of promise (New Guinea) for the naturalist, I was on a shooting excursion. Scarcely had I walked some hundred paces in those antient forests, the daughters of time, whose sombre depth was perhaps the most magnificent and stately sight that I had ever seen, when a bird of Paradise struck my view: it flew gracefully and in undulations; the feathers of its sides formed an elegant and aerial plume, which, without exaggeration, bore no remote resemblance to a brilliant meteor. Surprised, astounded, enjoying an inexpressible gratification, I • Cincinnurus regius, Vieillot. Manucodiata, or manucodewata, is an appel lation common to all the birds of Paradise, and is said to signify at the Moluccas, The bird of God.' The emerald, when alive, is of the size of a common jay; its beak and its feet are bluish; the irides are of a brilliant yellow; its motions are lively and agile; and, in general, it never perches except upon the summit of the most lofty trees. When it descends, it is for the purpose of eating the fruits of the lesser trees, or when the sun in full power compels it to seek the shade. It has a fancy for certain trees, and makes the neighbourhood re-echo with its piercing voice. The cry became fatal, because it indicated to us the movements of the bird. We were on the watch for it, and it was thus that we came to kill these birds; for when a male bird of Paradise has perched, and hears a rustling in the silence of the forest, he is silent, and does not move. His call is voike, voike, voike, voiko, strongly articulated. The cry of the female is the same, but she raises it much more feebly. The latter, deprived of the brilliant plumage of the male, is clad in sombre attire. We met with them, assembled in scores, on every tree, while the males, always solitary, appeared but rarely. It is at the rising and setting of the sun that the bird of Paradise goes to seek its food. In the middle of the day it remains hidden under the ample foliage of the teak-tree, and comes not forth. He seems to dread the scorching rays of the sun, and to be unwilling to expose himself to the attacks of a rival. In order to shoot birds of Paradise, travellers who visit New Guinea should remember that it is necessary to leave the ship early in the morning, to arrive at the foot of a teaktree or fig tree, which these birds frequent for the sake of their fruit-(our stay was from the 26th of July to the 9th of August)-before half-past four, and to remain motionless till some of the males, urged by hunger, light upon the branches within range. It is indispensably requisite to have a gun which will carry very far with effect, and that the grains of shot should be large; for it is very difficult to kill an emerald outright, and if he be only wounded it is very seldom that he is not lost in thickets so dense that there is no finding the way without a compass. The little emerald, Paradise-bird, feeds, without doubt, on many substances, in a state of liberty. I can affirm that it lives on the seeds of the teak-tree, and on a fruit called amihou, of a rosy white, insipid and mucilaginous, of the size of a small European fig, and which belongs to a tree of the genus ficus.' M. Lesson then goes on to state that he saw two birds of Paradise which had been kept in a cage for more than six months by the principal Chinese merchant at Amboyna. They were always in motion, and were fed with boiled rice, but they had a special fondness for cock-roaches (blattæ), Bennett, in his 'Wanderings,' gives the following account of a bird of Paradise (Paradisea apoda) which he found in Mr. Beale's aviary at Macao, where it had been confined nine years, exhibiting no appearance of age: This elegant creature has a light, playful, and graceful manner, with an arch and impudent look; dances about when a visiter approaches the cage, and seems delighted at being made an object of admiration; its notes are very pe culiar, resembling the cawing of the raven, but its tones are by far more varied. During four months of the year, from daily, and, after having performed its ablutions, throws its May to August, it moults. It washes itself regularly twice delicate feathers up nearly over the head, the quills of which feathers have a peculiar structure, so as to enable the bird to effect this object. Its food during confinement is boiled rice, mixed up with soft egg, together with plantains, and living insects of the grasshopper tribe; these insects when thrown to him, the bird contrives to catch in its beak with great celerity; it will eat insects in a living state, but will not touch them when dead. I observed the bird, previously to eating a grasshopper given him in an entire or unmutilated state, place the insect upon the perch, keep it firmly fixed with the claws, and divesting it of the legs, wings, &c., devour it, with the head always placed first. The servant who attends upon him to clean the cage, give him food, &c., strips off the legs, wings, &c., of the insects when alive, giving them to the bird as fast as he can devour them. It rarely alights upon the ground, and so proud is the creature of its elegant dress, that it never permits a soil to remain upon it, and it may frequently be seen spreading out its wings and feathers, and regarding its splendid self in every direction, to observe whether the whole of its plumage is in an unsullied condition. It does not suffer from the cold weather during the winter season at Macao, though exposing the elegant bird to the bleak northerly wind is always very particularly avoided. Mr. Beale is very desirous of procuring a living female, to endeavour, if possible, to breed them in his - aviary. The sounds uttered by this bird are very peculiar; that which appears to be a note of congratulation resembles somewhat the cawing of a raven, but changes to a varied scale of musical gradations, as he, hi, ho, haw, repeated rapidly and frequently, as lively and playfully he hops round and along his perch, descending to the second perch to be admired, and congratulate the stranger who has made a visit to inspect him; he frequently raises his voice, sending forth notes of such power as to be heard at a long distance, and as it could scarcely be supposed so delicate a bird could utter; these notes are, whock, whock, whock, whock, uttered in a barking tone, the last being given in a low tone as a conclusion. 'A drawing of the bird of the natural size was made by a Chinese artist. The bird advanced stedfastly towards the picture, uttering at the same time its cawing congratulatory notes; it did not appear excited by rage, but pecked gently at the representation, jumping about the perch, knocking its mandibles together with a clattering noise, and cleaning them against the perch, as if welcoming the arrival of a companion. After the trial of the picture a looking-glass was brought, to see what effect it would produce upon the bird, and the result was nearly the same; he regarded the reflection of himself most stedfastly in the mirror, never quitting it during the time it remained before him. When the glass was removed to the lower from the upper perch he instantly followed, but would not descend upon the floor of the cage when it was placed so low. One of the best opportunities of seeing this splendid bird in all its beauty of action, as well as display of plumage, is early in the morning, when he makes his toilet; the beautiful sub-alar plumage is then thrown out, and cleaned from any spot that may sully its purity by being passed gently through the bill; the short chocolate-coloured wings are extended to the utmost, and he keeps them in a steady, flapping motion, as if in imitation of their use in flight, at the same time raising up the delicate, long feathers over the back, which are spread in a chaste and elegant manner, floating like films in the ambient air. 'I never yet beheld a soil on its feathers. After expanding the wings, it would bring them together so as to conceal the head, then bending it gracefully it would inspect the state of its plumage underneath. This action it repeats in quick succession, uttering at the time its croaking notes; it then pecks and cleans its plumage in every part within reach, and throwing out the elegant and delicate tuft of feathers underneath the wings, seemingly with much care, and with not a little pride, they are cleaned in succession, if required, by throwing them abroad, elevating them, and passing them in succession through the bill. Then turning its back to the spectator, the actions above-mentioned are repeated, but not in so careful a manner; elevating its tail and long shaft feathers, it raises the delicate plumage of a similar character to the sub-alar, forming a beautiful dorsal crest, and, throwing its feathers up with much grace, appears as proud as a lady dressed in her full ball-dress. Having completed the toilet, he utters the usual cawing notes, at the same time looking archly at the spectators, as if ready to receive all the admiration that it considers its elegant form and display of plumage demands; it then takes exer cise by hopping, in a rapid but graceful manner, from one end of the upper perch to the other, and descends suddenly upon the second perch, close to the bars of the cage, looking out for the grasshoppers which it is accustomed to receive at this time. His prehensile power in the feet is very strong, and, still retaining his hold, the bird will turn himself round upon the perch. He delights to be sheltered from the glare of the sun, as that luminary is a great source of annoyance to him, if permitted to dart its fervent rays directly upon the cage. The iris frequently expanding and contracting, adds to the arch look of this animated bird, as he throws the head on one side to glance at visiters, uttering the cawing notes or barking aloud. . Having concluded, he jumps down to the lower perch in search of donations of living grasshoppers. The bird is not at all ravenous in its habits of feeding, but it eats rice leisurely, almost grain by grain. Should any of the insects thrown into his cage fall upon the floor, he will not descend to them, appearing to be fearful that in so doing he should soil his delicate plumage; he therefore seldom or ever descends, except to perform his ablutions in the pan of water placed at the bottom of the cage expressly for his use.' BIRDPEPPER. [See CAPSICUM.] BIRDS, in Latin Aves, in Greek Opvoeç, Ornithes, (whence Ornithology), a class of vertebrated, oviparous, feathered bipeds, generally formed for flight. We say generally, because, though their mechanism is, in its most perfect development, designed for enabling them to support their bodies in the air and to make progress in that medium, it is also calculated for motion on the ground and for perching in trees. Some families indeed are framed entirely for moving on the ground, and others for that motion and for making their way both on the surface of the water, and even, for a short period, below it, without the power in either case of raising themselves into the air. ORGANIZATION. Skeleton. Skull (cranium). The first peculiarity which strikes an observer, when comparing the skulls of birds with those of mammifers, is the absence of sutures in the former, the proper cranial bones being consolidated into one piece. The skull of birds is articulated to that part of the vertebral column called the neck by a single condyle or joint, which is situated at the front margin of the great occipital opening (foramen magnum), through which the brain, becoming elongated, as it were, into the spinal chord, descends into the vertebral column. It is this beautiful adaptation of structure to the wants of the animal, that gives such a freedom of motion to the head, especially in a horizontal direction. Take, for example, the wryneck (Lynx torquilla), which, as those who have surprised the bird on the nest will readily admit, can writhe her head round so as to look the intruder in the face, hissing all the while like a snake; by this terrible show' many a bird's-nesting novice is frightened away. Perfect repose in a bird seems hardly to be enjoyed without turning back the head and nestling the beak between the wings; this attitude the articulation above mentioned enables the bird to command with the least possible effort. The orbits are very large in proportion to the skull, to which last the lower-jaw is joined by a somewhat square bone (os quadratum, os carré of the French) not far from the ear. A small bone rests on the square bone at one end, while the other end comes against the palate. When, therefore, the square bone is brought forward by depressing the lower jaw, and also by muscles adapted to the purpose, the small bone presses up against the palate, and this raises the upper jaw, which, contrary to the rule in the structure of mammifers, is in birds, with but few exceptions, thus gifted with motion. Both jaws are completely destitute of true teeth, the want of which is, as we shall presently see, amply compensated. The upper-jaw is either formed of one piece distinct from the skull and articulated with it, as in the parrots; or it is connected with it by means of yielding elastic bony plates, as in most other birds. These elastic plates admirably pro tect the bill (the upper part of which may be considered as an elongation of the intermaxillary bones) and the skull from the shocks of the former organ when used in pecking violently against hard substances. In a few instances the upper jaw is entirely immovable. Blumenbach gives the rhinoceros bird and the cock of the wood (Tetrao Urogallus) as instances. the two branches are very short, and never united, but anchylosed with the scapula (shoulder-blade) and clavicle (collar-bone). In the cassowary there are merely two little processes from the side of the clavicle which are the rudiments of the branches of the fork. In the emu there are two very small thin bones attached to the anterior edge of the dorsal ends of the clavicles by ligaments; they are directed upwards towards the neck, where they are fastened to each other by means of a ligament, and have no connexion whatever with the sternum.' Bones of the neck and trunk. The upper, or, to speak more correctly, the anterior extremities of birds are calculated for flight, and entirely useless as prehensile organs, because the bird depends principally upon its bill to gather The wing-bones may be compared with the arms or upper its food. To give a greater freedom of action to this organ, extremities of man and of the monkeys. Indeed Belon has it was necessary, as the bones of the back have hardly any shown with much ingenuity, though the design be rudely motion (the dorsal vertebræ being often anchylosed or im- executed by the engraver, the resemblance between the movably fixed by a continuation of bony secretion), that the skeleton of a bird and of a man—a resemblance greater, neck should be long and flexible; and eminently flexible it perhaps, than would be expected. The following are the is. In the mammifers the number of cervical vertebræ bones composing the wing of a bird. The arm (os humeri); (neck-bones) is seven; the cameleopard has no more, and the fore-arm, consisting of two bones (ulna and radius); the elephant and whale have no less. Cuvier, indeed, gives the wrist (carpus), formed by two bones; the metacarpus, the sloth nine; Thomas Bell, however, has satisfactorily also made up of two bones; a thumb, or rather the rudimade out that the additional two are bones of the back, not ment of one, there being but a single bone; and two fingers, of the neck. But, in birds, Nature has made up for the the finger next the thumb consisting of two portions, and deficiency of motion in the back (a deficiency absolutely ne- the other only of one. To this hand are attached the cessary to the comfortable existence of the animal, inasmuch primaries, or greater quill-feathers; the secondaries are as the back is the point of support to the wings) by the free affixed to the fore-arms; and the arm supports feathers of grant of cervical vertebræ, according to the wants which the inferior strength and development, called tertiaries and scapeculiar habits of particular birds require. Thus the raven pulars. The bone which represents the thumb gives rise to has twelve neck-bones, the domestic cock thirteen, the os- the bastard quills, and along the base of the quills are trich eighteen, the stork nineteen, and the swan twenty-ranged the largest of those feathers which are denominated three, the largest number, it is believed, yet detected, while the minimum amounts to ten. The articulation is so contrived as to produce the greatest mobility, and that the contrivance is complete is proved by the ability of a bird to touch every point of its body with its bill. The vertebrae of the back are from seven to eleven in number. There are no true lumbar vertebræ, for they are consolidated into one piece with the pelvis (os innominatum) which is elongated, broad, and simple, and does not unite below, as in mammifers, to form what is called the symphysis pubis, but has the lateral portions distant from each other. This is the general rule. The pelvis of the ostrich forms an exception; for it is joined below like that of most quadrupeds. In most of the quadrupeds the rump-bone (os coccygis) is prolonged into a truejointed tail. In birds it never is, but is very short, although it supports the large tail-feathers (rectrices). Ten pairs of ribs are said to form the maximum among birds; these, the true ribs, are joined to the breast-bone (sternum) by small intervening bones. The false ribs (those which do not reach the breast-bone) have a forward direction. There is a peculiar flat process directed upwards and backwards attached to the middle pairs of the true ribs. The breast-bone (sternum), a part of the greatest consequence, being the point of attachment for the most powerful of the muscles which set the wings in action, is composed of five pieces strongly joined together, and prolonged below into a crest (crista) for that purpose. The greater or less development of this crest or keel, and the greater or less ossification of the component parts of the breast-bone, depend upon the wants of the bird. Those birds whose flight is strongest and most continuous have the crest very large, and the breast-bone pieces very firmly cemented together, as any one may see who will examine the breast bone of a hawk, or eagle, or that of a humming-bird; while in the ostrich and cassowary this crest is entirely absent, and the breast-bone presents a uniformly arched surface, somewhat like that of a Highlander's target. In the crane and in the male wild-swan there is a cavity in the anterior part of the breast-bone for the reception of the involuted wind-pipe (trachea). The connexion of the wings with the trunk is managed by means of the two clavicles, and of that peculiar fork-like elastic bone commonly called the merry-thought, by the French fourchette and lunette furcula). This apparatus operates as an antagonist power to the action which would bring the wings together in flight, did not these bones, especially the merrythought, keep the shoulders asunder. The greater or less development of this bone depends on the exigencies of each particular case. In birds whose flight is long and rapid it is strong, with the branches widely arched and carried forwards on the body; in birds which do not fly at all, in the ostrich, cassowary, and emu, for instance, the bone becomes a mere rudiment. In the ostrich,' as Macartney observes, wing coverts. Such is the structure of the 'sail-broad vans' which waft the condor over the Andes. Bones of the lower or posterior extremities. These consist of a thigh-bone (femur); leg-bones (tibia and fibula), for there are two, though the fibula is very small, and becomes anchylosed to the tibia; one metatarsal bone (at the lower end of which there are as many processes as there are toes, each process furnished with a pulley for moving its corresponding toe), and the toes. Of these, three generally are directed forwards and one backwards. This back toe, or great toe, is wanting in some birds. In the swallows it is directed forwards; in the climbing birds the outer toe as well as the back toe are directed backwards. The number of joints is, generally, progressive; the back toe has two, the next three, the middle toe four, and the outer toe five joints. |