112 PHASIANUS. PHEASANT. 



row, but the ridge or crest is very prominent. The clavicles 

 are stout ; the furcula narrow, with slender rounded crura, 

 their junction expanded into a triangular plate, which is con- 

 nected with the sternum by a ligament. See Fig. 41, which, 

 although representing the sternum of a bird belonging to 

 another genus, exhibits all these characters. 



The scapula is slender and sabre-shaped ; the humerus strong 

 and rather short ; the cubitus of about the same length. The 

 pollex is tapering ; the metacarpus is composed of two bones 

 united at the extremities, and having between them an ellip- 

 tical space ; the first phalanx is also double, but the pieces are 

 united by a bony lamina ; the terminal phalanx tapering. 



The sacrum, ilium, and ischium are united, the only separate 

 bone being the os pubis, w^hich is very slender and curved ; but, 

 as in other birds, the pelvis is separated in front. The sciatic 

 foramen is elliptical ; the thyroid very small and narrow. The 

 thigh-bone is of moderate length and stout ; the tibia a third 

 longer ; the fibula extremely slender and incomplete for a third 

 of its length ; the metatarsus is a little shorter than the femur, 

 with a posterior thin edge, on which is developed the short con- 

 vex nucleus of the spur. The pollex is elevated, and composed 

 of three short bones ; the second toe of three also ; the third 

 of four ; the fourth of five phalanges. 



The form of the jaw^s is obviously indicative of being adapted 

 for vegetable food. The legs are strongly constructed, and as 

 the claws are not much curved or pointed, the animal must be 

 a powerful walker. The short but strong wings, having power- 

 ful muscles attached to them, indicate a strong, but heavy, and 

 not protracted flight. The pectoral muscles must be very large, 

 judging by the great height and length of the crest of the ster- 

 num, and as these are the principal organs of flight, that action 

 is necessarily powerful, but, as the wings are short, performed 

 by frequent beats. A buoyant flight, on the contrary, requires 

 a long wing, whether its length be owing to the elongation of 

 the bones, or of the quills, or of both. In many of these re- 

 spects the Gallinaceous Birds diftcr from the Pigeons as much 

 as any two groups of land birds differ from each other. 



