2 ELEMENTARY SKETCH OF THE OSTEOLOGY OF BIRDS. 



and comparing it with the descriptions given below. He will, in 

 this manner, be able to arrive at a far more thorough and sound 

 knowledge than he would merely by studying the figures given 

 here. If this imperfect and hasty sketch should induce any 

 Indian ornithologist to take up systematically the study of the 

 osteology, and ultimately of the anatomy of the soft parts of 

 birds, (which still offers a wide field for research) it will have 

 fully attained its object. 



I must add that I have not written this sketch for students 

 in England, who have abundant means of access to text books and 

 memoirs. I must also disclaim any attempt at originality in the 

 matter of this sketch, or in the manner of its treatment, since 

 I have no claim to any special knowledge of the subject. The 

 sketch is mainly written from my own ordinary knowledge of 

 Avian anatomy, which has been originally in great part 

 derived from the writings of others, and more especially from 

 those of Professor Huxley, from which I have borrowed to a con- 

 siderable extent. The figures used in illustrating this sketch have 

 also been borrowed from the memoirs of other authors, to whom 

 I owe apologies for having copied such figures without having 

 obtained previous permission. The delay necessary to obtain 

 an answer from Europe must be my excuse for this omission. 



I have appended below* a list of some of the more important 

 Works and Memoirs on the Osteology of Birds, which may be 

 useful to such ornithologists as desire to enter more fully 

 into the subject. 



In making use for the first time, of each scientific term em- 

 ployed in this sketch, I have appended in a note its original 

 meaning and application. It must, however, be observed that 

 the names of most bones were originally applied to the bones of 

 the human skeleton, at a time when Comparative Anatomy was 

 virtually unknown. Consequently when we come to consider a 

 class of animals so far removed from man, as are birds, the 

 original meaning of the names used is frequently inapplicable, 

 and the student will therefore very often find it preferable to 

 consider such names as purely abstract terms. 



Indian Museum, Calcutta; Richard Lydekker. 



February, 1879. 



* Eyton — " Osteoloffia Avium." 



Foster and Balfour — "Elements of Embryology." 



Garrod — " Shizognathous Birds" ; Proc. Zool. Soc, Lon., 1873. 



Huxley — " Anatomy of Vertebrated Animals." 



Huxley. — " Classification of Birds." Proc. Zool. Soc, Ion., 1867. 



Milne-Edwards — "Oiseaux Fossiles de la France." 



Morrell — " Students' Manual of Comparative Anatomy." Pt, II. 



Owen — " Anatomy and Physiology of Vertebrates," Vol. II. 



Parker — Article, " Birds" Osteology ; Encyclopaedia Britannica. 



Parker. — " ^gitbognathous Birds.' ' Trans. Zool. Soc, Lon,, Vol. IT. 



Parker and Bettany — '• Morphology of the Skull." 



