34 
ground and the bones which compose them are adapted for carry- 
ing the feathers of the wing. 
Thus we have the ‘‘manus’”’ or hand with the primary feathers 
attached to it and the primary coverts at their base, the ‘ anti- 
brachium”’ or forearm with the secondaries attached, and the 
secondary coverts, medium coverts and lesser coverts at their base, 
also the humerus or arm bone, and here the ala spuria or thumb 
with its own proper feathers. The wing is opened out by straight- 
ening the elbow and wrist joints, and folded by bending them. 
This sort of midrib we call the stem, and divide it into tube and 
shaft. The tube is hollow, it has a little depression at its root 
where it has grown from its papilla, and alittle opening on the 
under surface where it joins the shaft, by which its cavity com- 
municates with the exterior; the tube is cylindrical, but the shaft 
rather square on section. On each side of the shaft are the barbs. 
Each barb is itself something like a miniature feather with another 
series of divisions on each side called barbules. Now here is a very 
remarkable little piece of anatomy, each barbule on the further 
side of the barb overlaps the next barb, and is rather firmly fixed 
to it by a series of little hooks, whilst the barbules on the near side, 
which are in the same way overlapped by their neighbours have no 
little hooks. |The little hooked barbules are found in all the larger 
feathers, and what are called the contour feathers of the largest of 
the three divisions of Birds, but notin the fluffy down feathers of this 
division, and notin any feathers of the other divisions. Cuvier divided 
Birds into six orders, chiefly distinguished by their beaks and claws. 
1. Accipitres, the birds of prey. 2. Passeres, the passerine or 
perching birds. 3. Gallinoe or Ground birds. 4. Scansores, 
the climbers. 5. Gralle, the waders. 6. Palmipedes, the web- 
footed birds. his division has been thought to depend too 
much upon external characters which bear a close relation to 
the mode of life of the birds, and consequently a somewhat 
different method is adopted, founded on deeper resemblances 
and differences. Birds are now divided into three great 
divisions :—Carinate, Ratite, and Saurure. Carinate, the birds 
with a keeled breast bone; Ratite, with a flat or raft shaped 
breast bone; and Saurure, the lizard-tailed birds. The last 
division is only represented by the fossil genus, Archeopteryx, 
greek for the ‘‘oldbird,” certainly not caught by chaff, as he existed 
before the days of that cereal product. The middle division, 
Ratite, contains the ostriches, Cassowaries, and Apteryx, being all 
species which cannot fly, and about which we shall say no more 
this evening, but give our attention to the Carinate. Let us now 
look a little more closely into the general anatomy of a bird. 
The breast bone is not only very much lengthened, but it has this 
