CHAPTER III 

 THE FRAMEWORK OF THE BIRD 



HEN we look at a living bird, we see only feathers, 

 liorn, and skin, and we sometimes forget that 

 hidden beneath all these are many bones, — the 

 framework of the body. If we wish to alter the style of 

 architecture of a house, we need only to change the ex- 

 terior, columns, arches and windows, while the stone 

 foundation and brick walls may remain as they are. So 

 in fashioning new forms of life, Nature has often altered 

 the covering, and even the muscles and organs, of ani- 

 mals to such an extent that we would have little clew 

 as to the relations of these creatures, were it not for the 

 underlying l)ones, which are so deeply seated that they 

 react less slowly to changes in the outside life. If a fish, 

 a lizard, a bird, a whale, and a man should be presented 

 to us for classification, we might well hesitate until we 

 had seen their bones, when there would flash upon us 

 the same moulded type running through all. 



The study of the skeleton, or Osteologj^ is like all 

 other 'ologies; it can be made as dry as the bones them- 

 selves; or the very opposite, by leaving the minor details 

 and less important particulars to text-books, choosing 

 only the most significant facts. One may smile at the 



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