OSTEOLOGY OF BIRDS I 35 



they belong, is the remarkable length of their legs. Long as these 

 are, however, their osteologic characters are really accipitrine and 

 not ciconiine or herodionine.- 



In other words, great length of legs in a raptorial bird is by no 

 means indicative that that bird is derived from an ancestral stock 

 from which has descended the true waders and their kin. 



