36 



THE BONES. 



In carving a fowl or any other bird at table, this peculiarity 

 may easily be remarked. The want of motion in the 

 back, however, is amply compensated by a greater number 

 of bones in the neck, and greater power of moving them, 

 which enables birds to turn their heads in all directions 

 with extraordinary facility. These joints vary in number 

 according to the necessities of the bird ; thus, the Sparrow, 

 which can perch and reach its food close before him, does 

 not require such pliability or length of neck as the Swan, 

 which floats on the water, and must seek its food at a con- 

 siderable depth beneath ; accordingly, we find that, whereas 

 the Sparrow has only nine of these neck-joints, the Swan 

 has twenty-three, the advantages of which must be evi- 

 dent to all who have observed the ease and grace with 

 which this stately bird turns its neck in every direction, or 

 buries its head in sleep beneath the soft down of its wings. 

 The Toucan, the bird with the large beak mentioned in 



The Toucan. 



