SnurKLDT : OsTF.()r/)OV oi' riiK Heroihonks. L'dl 



index metacarpus, with a digit of three i)halanges ; and middle meta- 

 carpus with a single jihalanx to its digit. 



So far as the material goes that 1 have been able to examine, the pec- 

 toral extremity among the At i/i-i/iw o{{er^ no very striking differences. 

 As a good illustration of the slight departure that is made from a com- 

 mon plan among these Herons, no better example could be offered 

 than the series of bones shown in figures 35, 36 and 37, being 

 the right humerus from An/ea herodias, Nycticorax and A. candidis- 

 siiiia. 



Of the Pelx'ic Extremity. — After the most careful examination of 

 the material at hand, I find it is only in the femur of Nycticorax that 

 l)neumatic foramina exist. These are exceedingly minute, though 

 they may be detected without the aid of a lens just over the border of 

 the anti-trochanterian facet on the posterior aspect of the bone. In 

 A. herodias and A. ca/ididissiiiia the feiiutr, as well as all the other 

 bones, composing the skeleton of this limb, are absolutely non-pneu 

 matic. 



Our Great Blue Heron has a fenuir fully as long as its pelvis omitting 

 the free, posterior end of the pubis. Its head and neck make nearly 

 a right angle with the shaft, the former being hemi-globular and much 

 excavated for the ligamentum teres, while the latter is short and thick. 

 At the summit of the bone the anti-trochanterian facet is broad and 

 extensive. Froiii before, backwards, its surface is convex ; in the 

 other direction, that is from the head to the trochanter, it is concave, 

 becoming gradually wider as it approaches the latter. 



The trochanterian ridge does not rise above this articular surface to 

 any perceptible degree, but becomes rather prominent as it passes 

 down the shaft for a short distance on its outer and anterior aspect. 



On the outer and proximal end of the femur, the trochanter major 

 is broad and nodular. The shaft below this point, to where it begins 

 to expand for the condyles, is nearly straight and cjuite cylindrical. 

 Its muscular lines are distinct and raised ; on the posterior aspect, 

 above the middle, the nutrient foramen is to be seen. It opens in a 

 direction obliquely from above downwards. 



Just above the anterior ridge of the external condyle, I fmd in all 

 Herons, on the antero-external aspect, a prominent and elongated 

 tubercle. It has to do with muscular attachment, and one of the 

 muscular lines is deflected from its course to run into its upper 

 end. 



