502 THE GANNET 



consisting of the cranium, the sternum and the pelvis, 

 which are receptacles for the vital organs, and protect 

 them from injury ; the other of supports for locomotion 

 by either wing or leg. We can take the parts in the follow- 

 ing order : The Skull, the Beak, the concealed Nostrils, the 

 Sternum or breast-bone, the Coracoids, the Clavicles, the 

 Pelvis, the Vertebral column, the chief bones of the wing, 

 the bones of the leg, the Feet, and Claws. 



The Skull. — The skull, as the seat of the brain, comes 



first. A photograph of it, which cannot but be more effective 



than a written description, from a skeleton presented to 



the Norwich Museum by my late father, may be placed 



in juxtaposition with a sketch of the head from which the 



skin has been removed to show the muscles of the neck. 



In this photograph the deep orbital cavity is seen, while 



in Mr. Wilson's sketch of the head uncovered, the same 



cavity is shown with the eyeball in its natural position. 



The size of the ear-cavity, which externally is no larger 



than a pin's head, is also to be remarked on in the sketch. 



One of its most striking features, observes Mr. W. P. Pycraft 



in some notes supplied for use in this chapter, is found 



at the point where the upper mandible joins the skull. 



Here will be noticed a narrow transverse groove, forming 



a hinge to afford free play to the beak, a useful provision 



for holding a fish. A Gannet's skull measures with the 



