iLVES. IW 



"the fibula, which is small.^ The tarsus is early fused with the metatarsus, th© 

 latter consisting generally of one long bone. The digits vary in number ; the, 

 domesticated birds usually have three anteriorly and the hallux postero-inter«i 

 nally ; the outermost has five phalanges, the next four, the next three, while the 

 hallux has only two. The spwr, a horny projection from the metatarsus, is 

 sometimes counted as a digit. 



The bone tissue of birds is exceedingly compact and hard, and white in 

 colour; and some of the bones are pneumaticj or contain air instead of marrow; 

 notably these are the bones of the skull, the sternum, and the proximal bonea 

 of the limbs. There is great variety in the amount of pneumaticity possesse4f 

 by the skeleton in 'different species, but it is not necessarHy guided by thai 

 Jlying power of the animal ^^ 



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