392 ZOOLOGY 



SECT. 



to, and may perhaps have been ankylosed with the first and 

 second metacarpals. Three digits (d,"l, 2, 8) are clearly visible 

 in the more perfect of the two specimens that in the Berlin 

 Museum the metacarpals of which are usually stated to be all 

 free, in which case there is no carpo-metacarpus as in other Birds, 

 and the hand approaches the normal reptilian type. Doubt has, how- 

 ever, recently been thrown on this statement. The number of pha- 

 langes follows the usual reptilian rule, two to the first digit, three 

 to the second, and four to the third, and the ungual phalanx of all 

 three digits is claw-shaped, and doubtless supported a horny claw. 



The remiges, like the rectrices, are in a wonderful state of pre- 

 servation (Fig. 996), and are divisible, as usual, into primaries or 

 metacarpo-digitals and secondaries or cubitals. The primaries were 

 probably attached to the second or to the second and third of the 

 digits just described. 



The pelvis and the hind-limb have the usual avian character. 

 The foot consists of a slender tarso-metatarsus and four digits, 

 the hallux being small and directed backwards. 



In addition to the wing and tail-quills already referred to, there 

 are remains of contour feathers at the base of the neck and of 

 wing-coverts. Moreover, the rectrices are continued forwards by a 

 series of large feathers, which extend for some distance along the 

 sides of the body, and a row of similar but smaller feathers is 

 attached along both anterior and posterior faces of the tibio-tarsus. 



Sub-Class II. Neornithes 



External Characters. In the general build of the body the 

 Neornithes differ from Archaeopteryx chiefly in the shorter and 

 stouter trunk, and in the point of articulation of the hind-limbs 

 being thrown forward, so as to be almost directly below the centre 

 of gravity of the body: the animal is thus enabled without effort 

 to support itself on the legs alone. In a word Birds are essentially 

 bipedal, the only exception being the young of the Hoatzin 

 (Opisthocomus), which uses its wings in climbing. 



The neck is always well developed, and is often, as in the Swan 

 and Flamingo, of immense proportional length. The cranial por- 

 tion of the head is usually not large, but the beak may attain 

 extraordinary dimensions, and exhibits a wide range of form. It 

 may be extremely short and wide for catching Moths and other 

 flying Insects, as in Swifts and Goatsuckers ; short and conical for 

 eating fruit, as in Finches ; strongly hooked for tearing the bodies 

 of animals, as in Birds of Prey, or for rending fruits of various kinds, 

 as in Parrots ; long, conical, and of great strength, as in Storks ; 

 slender and elongated, as in Swifts, Ibises, and Curlews ; broad and 

 flattened for feeding in mud, as in Ducks and Geese ; expanded at 

 the end as in Spoonbills ; immensely enlarged as in Hornbills and 



