46 



THE BONES. 



its ancle, and' so in truth it is. This may [be 

 more easily understood, by referring to a very extra- 

 ordinary looking bird, sometimes, though very rarely, 

 seen in England, called the Stilted Plover (Chara- 

 drius liimantopus}, from the strange disproportion 

 of its legs, a figure of which is annexed, and of 



Stilted Plover*. 



which No. 2 may be considered as an illustration; 

 in which an inexperienced observer will at first 

 sight not easily persuade himself that c D is 

 nothing more than the ancle, and the back part of 

 the joint c its heel: yet so it is, as the reader will 

 at once perceive in the above figure, where the 

 bird is represented in its usual, and what may be 

 called, kneeling position; the real knee, corresponding 

 with B in fig. 2, of the leg being partly hid in the 

 * Charadrius himantopus. 



