342 MR. W. K. PARKER ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF BAL^NICEPS REX. 



and the posterior condyles for articulation with the radius and ulna, are the exact coun- 

 terparts of the same structures in the humerus of the Heron. The ulna in this captive' 

 (PI. LXVI. fig. 1 u) scarcely shows the knobs on its outer side for the secondary quills. 

 The radius (PI. LXVI. fig. 1 r) is very long and slender. The two carpals that continue 

 free (PI. LXVI. fig. I cp\, cp2), and the one, the " os magnum," which has coalesced 

 with the middle metacarpal, answering to the third of a pentadactyle member ; the 

 outer and inner metacarpals, each with one phalangeal bone ; and the middle meta- 

 carpal with its two phalanges (PI. LXVI. fig. 1 mc), have all the same structure in 

 Balaeniceps as in the Heron. The humerus alone receives air ; the rest are filled, in 

 the living bird, with medulla. 



Both in length and thickness, the bones of the wing are one-third larger in the Balse 

 niceps than in the Grey Heron, but this is certainly not in proportion to the size of the 

 two birds. If the head, neck, and feet had been in the Balaeniceps relatively no greater 

 encumbrance than the same parts are in our common Heron, yet the greatly increased 

 magnitude of the bird would have demanded much larger wings for it to have been as 

 capable as its smaller relative of high, buoyant, sailing, long-sustained flight. Our more 

 solitary and wandering native bird flies at great heights, with Httle apparent labour, — 

 his breeding-place being often at a great distance from his favourite fishing-stations. 

 According to Mr. Petherick, the Balaeniceps is much more social ; and the habit, which 

 he notices, of the bird taking itself off to high neighbouring trees when disturbed, is 

 very unlike what our Heron does under like circumstances, — this bird being evidently 

 aware of the fact that " its best defence is absence, and that all its safety is in remo- 

 tion*." Judging from the large volume (for the weight is not considerable) of the neck 

 and head, and from the large size of the feet, we are inclined to place the Balsniceps, 

 as a flier, between the Water-hen and the Heron. The wing-bones of the Adjutant are 

 nearly twice the diameter of those of the Balffiniceps ; the humerus of the latter is three- 

 fourths the length of that of its great Indian relative ; whilst the latter, the Adjutant, 

 has its fore-arm and hand one-third longer than those of the Balaeniceps. 



The comparatively short and exceedingly strong humerus of the Adjutant, coupled 

 with a line of insertion for the ' secondary ' quills nearly eighteen inches long, and room 

 for a series of ' primaries ' almost a foot in extent, are most liberal allowances of skeletal 

 basis for the Phcenix-like wing-quills of this huge bird. 



Note. — The temptation to expatiate on the structure of the wing in this most fasci- 



' That ardent and accomplished ornithologist Dr. Anton Fritseh, of Prague, informs me that he has examined 

 a large and well-developed skeleton of Balaniceps rex in the possession of M. Schimper, of Stuttgart. This hird 

 was several inches higher than the subject of this paper ; and Dr. Fritsch's recollections of it are, that it was 

 an old bird when taken, and, never having endured captivity, had much stronger and larger wing-bones. 



Famihar with the Heron from his childhood, the writer has only once seen it take to a tree near by when 

 alarmed ; on this sole occasion a fine old male bird had ventured too near the nest of a pair of Kestrils, and being 

 hawked by them into a large tree and from that into some bushes, was easily taken alive. As a rule, when 

 alarmed, a few minutes suffice for it to fly so far out of reach as to appear a mere speck in the sky. 



