The Framework of the Bird 85 



which would hardly afford strength for a single wing- 

 flutter. Since mammals in their high evolution have 

 found no use for this bone, it has become reduced to a 

 small projection on the shoulder-blade. 



The clavicle we will recognize instantly, when we 

 give it another name — the wish-bone or merry-thought. 



Fig. 60. — Pectoral girdle of bird (scapulas, coracoids, and clavicles); compared 

 with the scapula and coracoid ot a young Leopard, the latter bone in the 

 Leopard being reduced to a tiny process. 



In birds the wish-bone is generally V-shaped, the two 

 clavicles usually meeting and fusing at their tips. Through 

 this V-shaped opening in the neck, the oesophagus and 

 the windpipe pass from the throat into the body cavity. 

 We too have wish-bones, although they are not placed 

 exactly as are those of a chicken. We call them collar- 

 bones, but by whatever name we know them they are 

 of importance, both in ourselves and in birds, in serving 

 to brace out the shoulders. In creatures which, unlike 



