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Stork, and the Adjutant have each seven pairs of free ribs, the last 
five reaching the sternum; in Baleniceps and the Adjutant the last 
pair are pelvic; in the White Stork the last two pairs. Until the 
birds are adult, the anterior vertebree of the pelvis are but partly 
united. In the Storks, Herons, Boatbill, and Baleniceps the dorsal 
vertebree continue distinct throughout life ; but in many of the Cranes 
the tendons of the dorsal muscles are ossified, and fasten the bones 
more or less together, and two or three contiguous centra coalesce. 
Among the cervical vertebree of the true Herons and their nearest 
allies, e. g. Ardea, Botaurus, Cancroma, and Baleniceps, there are 
several which have elegant bridges under their upper or cranial end 
for the carotid arteries, which bony bridges are not true hemal 
arches, but are formed by enogenous processes*. In these ver- 
tebree there are four canals,—the one under consideration, one for 
the spinal chord, and a pair for the vertebral arteries. In the Ba- 
leniceps, the vertebree, from the seventh to the thirteenth inclusive, 
are thus constructed. The only Stork in which we have seen this 
structure is the Australian Jabiru, Mycteria australis ; for a know- 
ledge of which fact we are indebted to the kindness of Mr. Edward 
Gerrard. These pairs of inferior processes meet together in but few 
birds; nevertheless, this is the case in the White Pelican (Pelecanus 
onocrotalus) and in the Gannet (Sula bassana). In the former bird 
also there is no cup-and-ball articulation of the dorsal vertebree, which 
reptilian character occurs in the Gannets, Cormorants, and Penguins. 
Notwithstanding their great size, the vertebrze of Baleniceps agree 
better with those of the Heron than with those of the Stork; but in 
their shortness, better with those of the Boatbill than with those of 
the longer-necked Heron: for the Heron, like the Giraffe, gains its 
great length of neck by elongation of the individual vertebrz rather 
than by an increase in their number. The ribs of the Baleniceps 
are lighter, weaker, and more cellular than those of its congeners. 
The oblong, narrow, neat pelvis of this bird is more like that of the 
Boatbill than that of the Stork, or even of the Heron. It differs, 
however, from that of either of these in not being expanded in a broad 
foliaceous manner over the top of the posterior ribs. This part again 
agrees with the pelvis of the Heron, inasmuch as the ischium passes 
much further backwards than the posterior part of the ileum. In 
Ciconia alba these two pelvic bones terminate in the same vertical 
line, whilst in the Adjutant and Boatbill the ileum projects back- 
wards and farthest. The pubic bones are unusually broad. There 
are seventeen sacral vertebree, the first of which has a pair of ribs. 
The caudal vertebree are six in number, the last being composed of 
eight or ten embryonic vertebre. 
The sternal apparatus of this bird is very interesting. In shape 
the sternum is intermediate between that of the White Stork and 
that of the Cormoraut, the keel, as in the latter bird, projecting evenly 
forwards anterior to the articulations with the coracoids, for a greater 
* See Prof. Owen’s article in Orr’s ‘ Circle of the Sciences,’ entitled ‘ Structure 
of the Skeleton and Teeth,” p. 182, fig. 10. iv. 
