240 NATURAL HISTORY. 



at widely distant pails of the earth in South America, in Africa, and again in Australia would seem 

 to indicate that they were once more plentifully distributed, and that they are remains of what was 

 formerly a large and important group. To these Ratite birds belonged also the extinct gigantic Moas 

 of New Zealand, and the JEpyornis of Madagascar. 



Before proceeding further, it will be necessary to give a brief outline of the principal anatomical 

 features of a bird's body. On examining either the general features of the skeleton, or the minute 

 characters of many of the bones of which it is made up, in such a bird as a Hawk, for example, we 

 are arrested by those remarkable arrangements by which this part of the body is adapted to the mode 

 of life of its possessor. Here, however, as in so many instances, we have to distinguish between what 

 is characteristic of the bird as a flying animal, and what is more or less common to it and other 

 vertebrate animals, and does not especially relate to peculiar habits. We may well be struck by 

 the marvellous power which birds have, and which man has not, and it is curious to notice how 

 man's aspirations have ever been associated with it. Without pausing to observe that painters always 

 endow spirits with wings, or that the imaginative genius of the French has emboldened them to 

 form a " Societe d'Encouragement pour la Locomotion Aerienne," we may find in the words of Faust 

 definite expression of what man feels with regard to the law by which lie is held down to earth : 



" Ich cile fort, ihr ew'ges Licht zn trinken, 

 Vor mir den Tag und hinter mir die Nacht, 

 Den Himmel iiber mir, und unter mir die Wellen. 

 Ein schiiner Traum, indessen sie entweicht. 

 Ach ! zu des Geistes Fliigeln wird so leicht 

 Kein korperlicher Fliigel sich gesellen. 

 Doch ist es jedem eingeboren, 

 Dass sein Gefiihl hinauf und vorwarts dringt, 

 Wenn iiber uns, im blauen Eaum verloren, 

 Ihr schmetternd Lied die Lerche singt, 

 Wenn iiber scbroffen Fichtenhohen 

 Der Adler ausgebreitet schwebt, 

 Und iiber Flachen, iiber Seen 

 Der Kranicb nacb der Hcimat strebt. "* 



Inspired by feelings such as those so powerfully expi-essed in Goethe's lines, numerous naturalists 

 have treated of the bird as though the powers of flight were confined to it, and were not shared by 

 Bees and Bats in the present, and by Pterodactyles in the past. With this word of comment, which 

 it is even still necessary to insist upon, attention should be given to the following avian characters : 

 The anterior limbs do not touch the ground, and the bones which compose them are adapted for 

 carrying the feathers of the wing ; the breast-bone is not only elongated, but has its central portion 

 developed (except in the Eatitfe) into a strong keel, the better to permit insertion of the muscles by 

 which the fore-limb is moved ; the small bones (vertebrae) in the region of the back are fixed firmly 

 together, and are not, as in man or in the Ostrich, movable on one another ; while those which succeed 

 them are often welded into one mass with the greatly-developed upper bones (ilia) of the pelvic girdle ; 

 and the hinder vertebrae develop an upstanding plate (ploughshare bone) which gives support to the 

 rectrices, or so-called steering feathers of the tail. It will have been seen that the ordinary seizing 

 organ of man (the hand) has in birds been modified to serve another purpose ; but this is made up 

 for, not only by the character of the beak, but by the long and flexible neck, and in some by the 

 grasping toes. 



Before describing in detail the characters of the different parts of the skeleton, it is to be noted 

 that many of the bones are not, as in the Mammalia, filled with marrow, but with air ; a large cavity 

 may, for example, be seen in the upper bone (humerus) of the wing of the common fowl. It is obvious 

 that the specific gravity, or weight of the bird, is thus largely reduced, while the connection between 



* These lines are thus translated by Mr. Hay ward : " I hurry on to drink his everlasting light the day before me 

 and the night behind the heavens above, and under me the waves. A glorious dream ! as it is passing, he is gone. Alas! 

 no bodily wing will so easily keep pace with the wings of the mind ! Yet it is the inborn tendency of our being for feeling to 

 strive upwards and onwards ; when, over us, lost in the blue expanse the lark sings its thrilling lay ; when, over rugged pine- 

 covered heights, the out-spread eagle soars ; and, over marsh and sea, the crane struggles onward to her home." 



