250 



1349. The skeleton of the female Great Bustard (Otis tardd). 



This is rather smaller, and the vertebrae are more slender than in the male : the vertebral 

 formula is the same, but the eighth pair of ribs join the sternum by bony heemapophyses. 



Purchased. 



1350. The skull of the female Great Bustard (Otis tarda). Hunterian. 



1351. The sternum of the Great Bustard (Otis tarda). 



It has a very deep keel, and four small notches posteriorly. 



Hunterian. 



1352. The right femur of the Great Bustard (Otis tarda*). Hunterian. 



1353. The right tibia of the Great Bustard (Otis tarda}. Hunterian. 



1354. The skeleton of the Little Bustard (Otis Tetrax). 



There are 21 vertebrae between the skull and the sacrum, the last six of which bear move- 

 able ribs : the first pair is very short ; the second longer, but free ; the other four pairs are 

 articulated to the sternum by haemapophyses ; the sacral ribs are wanting. 



Mus. South. 



Order CURSORES (Struthious, or Wing-less Birds). 



Genus Apteryx. 



1355. The skeleton of the Kivi (Apteryx australis). 



The rarity and peculiarity of this the smallest known representative of the Cursorial or 

 Struthious Order of Birds, and the additional interest which its osteology presents in con- 

 nection with the remains of allied extinct gigantic species of birds, confined, like the Apte- 

 ryx, to New Zealand, demand the following more detailed notice of the characters of the 

 skeleton. 



The bony framework of the Apteryx exhibits, but in a less degree than the entire bird, the 

 Struthious disproportion between the anterior and posterior extremities, and it shows that all 

 the ordinary bones of the wing exist, though in their feeblest state of development. 



With the exception of the parts of the skeleton concerned in the formation of the nasal 

 and auditory cavities, none of the other bones of the Apteryx are perforated for the admis- 

 sion of air, nor do they exhibit the pure white colour which characterizes the skeleton in other 

 birds. In their tough and compact texture they resemble the bones of the Lizard tribe. 



