256 



GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY 



Sion, 







palate halves together. The nasal chambers are unusually simple ; 



there are peculiarities of the tympanic cavity and quadrate bone. 

 " All these things being considered," says Parker, in conclu- 

 ■ it will seem contradictory now to assert the great uniformity 



of the skulls of Birds, 

 and indeed of Birds 

 themselves. Yet so it 

 is, and the countless 

 modifications that offer 

 themselves for observa- 

 tion are gentle in the 

 extreme. One form is 

 often seen to pass into 

 another by almost in 

 sensible gradations. . . . 

 In the rest of the 

 Birds' organisation 

 abundant evidence of 

 the same specialisation 

 Avill be seen. The mind 

 fails to desire more 

 beauty or to contem- 

 plate more exquisite 

 adaptations. An almost 

 infinite variety of Ver- 

 tebrate life is to be 

 found in this class. Of 

 its members some dig 

 and bury their germs, 

 which rise again in 

 full plumage, whilst 

 others watch and in- 



FiG. 80.— SawrogmaWioMS skull of nestling Flcus minor, x 4 ceSSantly feed their 



diameters, after Parker. Px, premaxillary ; dpa-, its dentary . -, Uvnnrl in flia 



process ; j)pi, its palatal process ; «H, septonasal ; ya, pala- x-eiiuei uioua lu LU« 



tine: vinx, peculiar palatal plate of maxillary of a wood- qVioflv rnvprt nr ^ nn 



pecker ;«/, nasal turbinal ; MIX, maxillary ; i;ja, interpalatal '=^'*-'^y ^.uvoiu ui uii 



spur of palatine bone : mxp, rudimentary maxillopalatine, the CragS of the rOCk 

 scarcely reaching palatine ; smx, septomaxillaiy, in several j 4.1 4. i > 



pieces ; v, right vomer, its fellow opposite ; pe, lower border ancl tiie Strong place, 



of perpendicular plate of ethmoid, between vomers ; epa, j Inf-nmnti'nn cinmA 



ethmoidal (inner) plate of palatine ; mpa, mediopalatine ; ■'•11 lOCOmOtlOn SOme 



pg, pterjfgoid ; i, foramen for internal carotid ; 8, for vagus -walk, others run, Or 

 nerve ; 9, for hypoglossal nerve. ' , 



they may wade, swim, 

 plunge, or dive, whilst most of them ' fly in the open firmament of 

 heaven.'" {Ency. Brit. 9th ed. Art. "Birds," p. 717.) 



