THE BONES. 41 



worthy of attention, inasmuch as to a certain degree, 

 upon these, and of the feet more especially, depends the 

 division or classification of birds. 



It is not, however, our intention to enter into an ex- 

 planation of what is called the anatomical structure of 

 these limbs, further than to point out wherein they 

 resemble or differ from our own, and correct a very 

 common mistake into which inexperienced observers are 

 apt to fall. We prefix two figures, No. 1 representing 

 the leg of a man ; No. 2, that of a . bird ; in which the 

 corresponding divisions of each are marked by similar 

 letters. 



Here we see the legs both divided into three parts, 

 exclusive of the actual foot. . The first from A to B ; the 

 second from B to c ; the third from c to D. Now, with- 

 out attending carefully to these divisions, we might be 

 apt to conclude, that birds have one more division than 

 human beings : but this is not the case. The mistake 

 on our parts, arising from the prevailing opinion that 

 the part c D in the bird's limb is the part which corres- 

 ponds with what we usually term the leg, namely, B to 

 c, that is, from our knee to our ancle ; whereas, the 

 bone B c in the limb of the bird is, in fact, its real leg- 

 bone. For its thigh we must look still higher, hidden 

 as it usually is amongst the feathers, and, probably, by 

 many scarcely known to exist. The great difference be- 

 tween the limbs of birds and human beings consists in 

 this, that what we are apt to term the leg of a bird is, 

 in fact, the part which answers to our ancle. This will 

 be easily seen by a little closer examination. Let us 

 look, then, at the joint B in the two figures : in the 

 human figure it is at once seen to be the knee, and on 

 referring to the same letter in the leg of the bird, we 

 shall find that it is the true knee also ; for supposing it 

 to kneel, that is, to bend its leg, so that the fore part of 

 the joint should touch the ground, it can only do so at 

 the joint B, it being as obviously impossible from the 

 structure of the joint c, that it could bend the part c D 



