STRUCTURE OF BIRDS. 



523 



no bony union of the two pubic bones, nor do the ischia 

 unite with the sacrum or each other, except in Rhea. In the 

 ostrich, the pubic bones are solidly united. The hind limbs 

 (Fig. 456) are two, three, or four toed, the ostrich having 

 but two digits ; in most four-toed birds, one toe (the hallux) 

 is directed backwards, while in the parrots and trogons, 

 etc., there are two toes in front and two toes behind, and 

 in the swifts and certain other forms all 

 four toes are turned forwards. The bones of 

 the skeleton are dense and hard ; both the 

 long bones and the bones of the skull are 

 commonly hollow, containing air; the air-sacs, 

 in connection with the lungs, communicating 

 with the hollows of the bone. In some birds 

 which fly well, only the skull-bones have air- 

 cells, while in the ostrich which is unable to 

 fly, the bones have even a greater number of 

 cavities than the gull. The body during 

 flight is thus greatly lightened, and the bird 

 can sustain itself in the air for many hours in 

 succession. 



With all these characters, the most re- 

 markable and diagnostic external feature is 

 the presence of feathers; no reptile on the 

 one hand, or mammal on the other, is clothed 

 with feathers, though the scales on the legs 

 and feet of birds are like those of reptiles, 

 but it should be borne in mind that feathers 

 are distinct in origin and structure from hairs.* 

 The ordinary feathers are called pennae or atar BUS ;'c' the same 



J piece isolated, and 



contour feathers ; as they determine by their seen from m front; 



J J dd'. d"d'", the four 



arrangement the outline ot the body. They toes. After Gegen- 

 are, like hairs, developed in sacs in the skin ; 

 the quill is hollow, partly imbedded in the derm ; this merges 

 into the shaft, leaving the outgrowths on each side called barbs, 

 which send off secondary processes called barbules. These 

 tertiary processes (called barbules and booklets) are com- 

 monly serrated, and end in little hooks by which the bar- 

 bules interlock. Down is formed of feathers with soft. 

 * Jeffries' The Epidermal System of Birds. Proc. Bost. Soc. N. H. 

 1883. 



Fig 456. Hind 

 limb of a Hawk, 

 Buteo vnlgario. a, 

 femur ; b, tibia ; b', 

 fibula; c, tarso-met- 



