OF GALLINACEOUS BIRDS AND TINAMOUS. 185 



processes '{hs.) are smaller in Hemipodius than in the Fowls ; narrow, however, as 

 in them, and not broad as in the Plovers : they do not stand upwards as in Tinamus, 

 nor lean forwards as in the Fowls, but are slightly recurved, with a retral process at 

 the tip. The single (internal) hyposternum (hys.) bows out from the entosternum, 

 and then makes an elegant curve towards it. A bony strap in typical Pigeons (not in 

 Goura) connects this internal hyposternal process with the xiphisternum. 



The wings of Hemipodius (PI. XXXV. fig. 5) are relatively larger and more elegantly 

 constructed than in the Quail ; they have somewhat of the pluvialine structure in them, 

 but the long, gently arcuate, blunt-ended scapula (sea.) is much like that of the common 

 Fowl. The coracoids (cr.) are long, as in the Fowl and Quail, and the process outside 

 the base of the bone is scarcely more developed. In Vanellus it is very long, outstand- 

 ing, and recurved ; in the Pigeon it is less marked. 



The furculum (/r.) is as much V-shaped, and its rami nearly as straight, as in the 

 Fowl, the Quail, and Partridge ; but the process at the angle, which is clean gone in the 

 Pigeons, and which is very small and recurved in the Lapwing, is, in Hemipodius, larger, 

 but still recurved. In the " Gallinaceae " it is almost in a line with the rami ; still in 

 them there is more of this large, flat plate above and behind than in front and below 

 the branches. 



The following table shows the length of the wing and shoulder-bones in these birds, 

 and their relatives, the figures indicating inches and lines or ttuelfths. 



ClaTiele. Coracoid. Scapula. Humerus. Forearm. Hand. 



in. lin. in. lin. in. lin. in. lin. in. lin. in. lin. 



Hemipodius varins 13 11 16 14 15^ 15i 



Hemipodius ? 11 Oil 13 1 H 10 12 



Vanellus cristatus 15 10| 17 27 30 2 7| 



Coturnix dactylisonans ..13 12 18 14 14 13 



Columba livia 14 14 17? 18 2 2 7| 



The Hemipodius agrees with the Pigeons and Fowls in having all the skeleton pneu- 

 matic, save the caudal vertebrae, the forearm, the carpo-metacarpus, the hinder extre- 

 mities entirely, and perhaps also the bones of the shoulder. 



Age makes a great difference in this respect ; nevertheless in adult Pigeons (Columba 

 palumbus and livia) I find that the coracoids receive air, whilst the clavicles and sca- 

 pulae are medullary. The openings that communicate with the thoracic air-cells in the 

 Pigeon pierce the coracoids close above the basal articular surface. 



Much has been said and written upon the degree in which air enters the bones of 

 birds ; part of the discrepancy in authors arises undoubtedly from the different con- 

 ditions of the individual specimens examined. Many years ago I prepared the skeleton 

 of a Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), in which all the bones of the hmbs, except the humeri, 

 contained marrow. A few years afterwards I obtained an adult Cuckoo, which had died 

 of starvation ; and there was positively no oil in its bones. This specimen is, I believe, 



2 b2 



