Mr. T. C. Byton’s Notes on Birds. 311 
_ The os furcatum, coracoids and scapulz, and indeed the whole of 
the skeleton is light and weak ; the former is much arched anteriorly ; 
when in situ the branches are rather suddenly divided, spreading 
very wide at their extremities ; each branch is laterally flattened on 
its upper half; the process at the point where it approaches the 
sternum is small and rounded, : 
The coracoids are seven-tenths of an inch in length, much ex- 
panded at their junction with the sternum, and jointly, with the ex- 
ception of that portion occupied by the manubrial process, spreading 
over the whole breadth of its anterior margin. 
The scapule are twelve-tenths of an inch in length, nearly straight 
to within a short distance of their posterior extremities, where they 
are abruptly deflected and pointed; the internal surface is slightly 
concave. 
The pelvis is eight-tenths of an inch in length, fourteen-tenths in 
breadth at its posterior extremity, and five-tenths of an inch at its 
anterior one; on viewing it from above it appears very broad for the 
size of the bird; and its upper plane is slightly arched. On viewing 
the posterior extremity from behind it presents a wide and regular arch 
formed by the sacral vertebra in the centre, and the posterior edges 
of the ilium, ischium and os pubis on each side; the points of the 
latter bones are turned upwards at their extremities; the posterior 
extremity of the ischium is much expanded, and incloses on one side 
a very large ischiadic foramen; the obturator foramen consists of 
an elongated slit inclosed between the ischium and os pubis, and 
extending from immediately behind the femur to the membranous 
junction of those bones near their posterior extremities. ‘The whole 
of the bones of the legs are very light and weak ; the femur is eight- 
tenths and a half in length; the tibia eleyen-tenths in length; the 
fibula, which is somewhat broad and flattened transversely, extends 
for two-thirds of its length, forming a sort of keel. ‘The tarsus mea- 
sures six-tenths of an inch in length. The bones of the wing are the 
strongest and most powerful of the whole skeleton ; they are however 
cog proportion to the size of the bird, which, together with the 
large size of the head, contributes somewhat to give the skeleton 
rather a clumsy appearance ; the humerus is twelve-tenths of an inch 
long; the ulnar bones measure fourteen-tenths of an inch in length, 
and the metacarpal bones six-tenths. 
The inferior maxillary bones are united for only three-tenths of 
an inch from their tips, and divaricate abruptly and widely; at the 
extremities of their rami they have two very wide and powerful 
capsules for articulation with the os quadratum. 
The cranium is broad in proportion to its length, measuring from 
the tip of the bill to the occiput one inch and six-tenths,—its great- 
est diameter ; the posterior extremities of the zygomatic bones mea- 
sure one inch. 3 
The occiput when viewed either laterally or from above has a 
truncate appearance, when viewed from behind it has a quadrate 
figure ; the articulation however of the os quadratum with the infe- 
rior maxillary bone projects considerably beyond the lateral perpen 
