BIRD. 



453 



to the bird. Some of the larger species, which are 

 found on the Antartic ocean, are nearly of the same 

 dimensions as a wild goose, and yet they will let 

 themselves down, with the wings fully expanded, till 

 the points of their webs touch the surface of the water, 

 and then they will glide along without a movement 

 of the wing till they are lost in the distance. The 

 cut represents the foot of the fulmar petrel, which is 

 very common on the seas to the northward of the 

 British islands. 



Fulmar. 



Such are a few of the leading distinctions in the 

 feet of birds, whether those feet are in themselves the 

 principal organs of motion, or whether they are made 

 use of as auxiliary to other organs ; but the parts of 

 a bird act so much in concert, that no one of them 

 can be fully understood wit'hout a knowledge of the 

 others. 



VII. WINGS OF BIRDS. As wings are the grand 

 characteristic of birds that which more especially 

 distinguishes them as a class from all other vertebrated 

 animals, one might naturally suppose that in these 

 organs would be found not only the best means of 

 subdividing them into orders, groups, and genera, 

 but also the best indications of the habits of evert par- 

 ticular species. De Blainville wa^, we believe, the 

 first to suggest such an arrangement ; and an outline 

 was subsequently given by Dr. Lherminier, in the 

 Transactions of the Linnrean Society of Paris, and 

 afterwards in a separate pamphlet, in the year 1828. 



There is a great deal of merit in M. Lherminier's 

 little work, the size and science of which are well 

 worthy the attention of all writers upon similar sub- 

 jects. But still, though a system could unquestion- 

 ably be founded upon the wings of birds, or even, as j 

 the* Doctor's is, founded upon the sternal apparatus in | 

 the skeleton, as giving insertion and stability to those 

 muscles which perform the grand motions of the wing ; , 

 yet that, after all, would be a system of flying, and 

 not a system of birds, because all birds must eat ; and 

 there are no birds so absolutely destitute of feet as 

 some birds are of wings. Notwithstanding, the 

 wings, and especially this part of them, and not 

 merely the numbers, lengths, and arrangements of the 

 flying" feathers, which are almost the only characters \ 

 usually noticed even by those who profess to write 

 scientifically upon this class of animals, are highly j 

 important toward the formation of such a systematic ; 

 arrangement as shall be of use that is, which shall 

 direct and shorten the labour of the student who seeks | 

 for a knowledge of the characters and uses of these 

 highly interesting creatures. 



The mass of the body in birds is, from the inflexi- 

 bility cf the spine, what may be called passive, or 

 rather consenting, in those actions wherein the cha- 

 racters of birds are displayed, as it does not directly 

 perform any of those external operations which are 



open to observation, though there is no doubt that it 

 is always of that form which gives greatest facility to 

 the more active part of the animal, whether that part 

 be bill, or foot, or wing. To enter minutely into the 

 anatomical structure of a wing, so as to make all its 

 parts intelligible to common readers, would require 

 far more space, and more illustration, than are com- 

 patible with the nature and design of this work ; ad 

 without a perfect knowledge of the parts, it would of 

 course be impossible to give any idea of their indi- 

 vidual action. Then, as to the joint-action of the 

 whole, that is a matter which cannot be expressed. 

 There are twelve distinct moving forces all acting, in 

 one way or other, upon the first, or shoulder-joint of 

 the wing. Those forces are all different in what may 

 be called their structural energy in the power they 

 derive from their manner of application in their effect 

 in different positions of the wing and in their energy 

 from different degrees of excitement in the bird ; so 

 that, when .we take those causes of difference, and 

 consider them in all the combinations and changes 

 of which they are susceptible, we are within the truth 

 when we say, that, counting from morning to night 

 every day for a thousand years, would be insufficient 

 simply to enumerate all the motions and positions of 

 which even this joint of one wing of a single bird is 

 susceptible. 



Still, in order to be able to observe birds with ad- 

 vantage, as they appear to us in every-day nature, so 

 as to turn them to those purposes of instruction and 

 companionship to which they can so easily and 

 pleasantly be turned, it is necessary to have some 

 general notion of the parts of a wing. These parts, 

 considering them simply according to the substances 

 of which they are composed, are, first, feathers, which 

 being palpable to the eye without much, or even any 

 separation of parts, may be ranked among the mere 

 external appearances, as noticed in a former section; 

 secondly, the substance of the solid wing which is 

 made up : these are the bones and muscles, of which 

 some notice has also been taken, but it may be ne- 

 cessary very briefly to revert to them. 



The jer-falcon, to which we have already alluded 

 as the most typical of birds in their general character 

 as flyers, may be again advantageously used as a 

 model, and the figure of the bones of its wing exa- 

 mined in comparison with the corresponding portions 

 of the human arm. The figure on the next page 

 represents the bones of the right wing in half the 

 lineal dimensions of nature. 



The position is nearly that of the closed wing ; and 

 it can be understood by bringing the elbow against 

 the side, the wrist to the shoulder, and bending down 

 the hand on the fore-arm. The portion marked a 

 answers to the humeral part of the human arm, that 

 is, from the shoulder to the elbow, and consists of a 

 single bone, the humerus. The portion marked 6 

 answers to the fore-arm, or cubit, the part of the arm 

 from the elbow to the wrist. This part consists of 

 two bones, a larger and curved one, the radius, and a 

 more slender and straighter one, the ulna. The portion 

 marked c answers to the hand in man ; o is the thumb, 

 which in the bird carries the bastard wing ; in this 

 wing it is tolerably developed, and consists of two 

 phalanges of bone soldered together, the union of 

 which may be seen at o. The metacarpal bonea, 

 answering to the palm of the hand, extend from II, 

 the wrist joint, to III, the knuckle joint; and this 

 also consists of two portions, extending the wholo 



