OSTEOLOGY OF BIRDS 



265 



Viewing this pelvis of M e r g - us serrator from above, we 

 always find, jutting out in front, a tuft of bony tendinous spiculae 

 that form a part of the same system that straps the dorsal vertebrae 

 together. 



The inner margins of the ilia meet and anchylose with the top 

 of the common neural spine of the leading vertebrae, converting the 

 ilioneural grooves into canals. 



Fig. 7 Fig. 8 



Fig. 7 Pelvis of Mergus serrator; viewed from above [U.S. Nat. Mus. Collec. 

 spec. no. 16626] 



Fig. 8 Same view of the pelvis of the American eider duck (Somateria dresseri) 

 [U. S. Nat. Mus. Collec. spec. 16989]. Both drawings natural size, and by the author 



