144 BONES OF THE WING. 



and are strongly bound together; so that the wing loses 

 nothing of its power, whilst so much of the typical struc- 

 ture of the member is retained, that every bone can be 

 referred to its corresponding bone in the most completely 

 developed hand. 



In ornithology, the large quill-feathers that are attached 

 to the ulnar side of the hand are termed " primarise," or 

 primary feathers ; those that are attached to the forearm 

 are the " secundariae," or secondaries, and "tectrices," or 

 wing-coverts ; those which lie over the humerus are called 

 " scapular ise," or scapularies ; and those which are attached 

 to the short outer digit, n, erroneously called the "thumb," 

 are the " spurias," or bastard feathers. The bones of the 

 leg do not present the same niamber of segments as those 

 of the wing, that corresponding with the carpus being 

 wholly blended with the one that succeeds. 



The pelvic bones offer this contrast with those of the 

 shoulder, that they are always anchylosed on either side 

 into one piece, " os innominatum," and not at the median, 

 line, whilst this is the only place where the elements of 

 the scapular apparatus are united by bone. In the young- 

 bird, the OS innominatum is composed of three bones. 

 The ilium, 62, is flattened, elongated, usually anchylosed 

 to a very long sacrum ; it forms the upper half of the 

 joint for the thigh-bone, called " cotyloid cavity." The 

 pubis, 64, is very long and slender ; it does not meet its 

 fellow at the middle line in any bird save the ostrich, but 

 is directed backwards, with its free extremity bent down- 

 wards. The pelvis of the ostrich is so vast, that the pubic 

 junction completing it does not impede the exit of the 

 egg ; in other birds the open pelvis facilitates the passage 

 of that large and brittle generative product. The ischium, 

 63, is a simple elongated bone, extending from the coty- 



