34 



ground and the bones which compose them are adapted for carry- 

 ing the feathers of the wing. 



Thus we have the " manus " or hand with the primary feathers 

 attached to it and the primary coverts at their base, the " anti- 

 brachium " or forearm with the secondaries attached, and the 

 secondary coverts, medium coverts and lesser coverts at their base, 

 also the humerus or arm bone, and here the ala spuria or thumb 

 with its own proper feathers. The wing is opened out by straight- 

 ening the elbow and wrist joints, and folded by bending them. 

 This sort of midrib we call the stem., and divide it into tuba and 

 shaft. The tube is hollow, it has a little depression at its root 

 where it has grown from its papilla, and a little opening on the 

 under surface where it joins the shaft, by which its cavity com- 

 municates with the exterior ; the tube is cylindrical, but the shaft 

 rather square on section. On each side of the shaft are the barbs. 

 Each barb is itself something like a miniature feather with another 

 series of divisions on each side called harbules. Now here is a very 

 remarkable little piece of anatomy, each barbule on the further 

 side of the barb overlaps the next barb, and is rather firmly fixed 

 to it by a series of little hooks, whilst the barbules on the near side, 

 which are in the same way overlapped by their neighbours have no 

 little hooks. The little hooked barbules are found in all the larger 

 feathers, and what are called the contour feathers of the largest of 

 the three divisions of Birds, but not in the flufly down feathers of this 

 division, and not in any feathers of the other divisions. Cuvier divided 

 Birds into six orders, chiefly distinguished by their beaks and claws. 

 1. Accipitres, the birds of prey. 2. Passeres, the passerine or 

 perching birds. 3, Gallinoe or Ground birds. 4. Scansores, 

 the climbers. 5. Grallae, the waders. 6. Palmipedes, the web- 

 footed birds. This division has beea thought to depend too 

 much upon external characters which bear a close relation to 

 the mode of life of the birds, and consequently a snmewhat 

 different method is adopted, founded on deeper resemblances 

 and differences. Birds are now divided into three great 

 divisions : — Carinatae, Ratitae, and Saururae. Carinatae, the birds 

 with a keeled breast bone ; Ratitae, with a flat or raft shaped 

 breast bone ; and Saururse, the lizard-tailed birds. The last 

 division is only represented by the fossil genus, Archaeopteryx, 

 greek for the "old bird," certainly not caught by chaflf, as he existed 

 before the days of that cereal product. The middle division, 

 Ratitae, contains the ostriches, Cassowaries, and Apteryx, being all 

 species which cannot fly, and about which we shall say no more 

 this evening, but give our attention to the Carinatae. Let us now 

 look a little more closely into the general anatomy of a bird. 

 The breast bone is not only very much lengthened, but it has this 



