94 , GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY. 



bones. The mimerous anchylosed (or confluent) vertebra3 compose the sacrum. The haunch- 

 bones or ossa inmminata consist on each side of three bones, ilium, ischium, and pubis, in adult 

 life more or less perfectly anchylosed. Where they all three come together is the hip-joint. 

 The remaining bones, usually included among those of the body proper, are the coccygeal or 

 caudal vertebrae (For anatomical detail see beyond, under Osteology, etc.) 



Topography of the Body. — Besides being thus divided into head, neck, trunk, and mem- 

 bers, the exterior of the body is further subdivided or mapped out into regions for the purposes 

 of description. It is necessary for the student t(j become familiar vpith the "topography " of a 

 bird, as this kind of mapping out may be called, for the names of the regions or outer areas 

 are incessantly used in ordinary descriptive ornithology. Many more names have been applied 

 than are in common use ; I shall try to define and explain all those which are usually em- 

 ployed, beginning with the parts of the body, and ending with those of the members. 



1. REGIONS OF THE BODY. 



Upper and Under Parts. — Draw a line from the corner of the mouth along the side of 

 tlie head and neck to and through the sh(->ulder-joint and thence along the side of the body to 

 l!ic root of the tail ; all above this line, including the ujjper surfaces of the wings and tail, are 

 upper parts ; all below it, including under surfaces of wings and tail, are under parts ; for 

 which the short words " above " and " below " often stand. The distinction is purely arbi- 

 trary, but so convenient as to be practically indispensable. It will be seen how an otherwise 

 lengthy description, enumerating parts that lie over or under the "lateral line" can be 

 j)ut in so few words as, for example, " above, green ; below, yellow." Many birds colors have 

 s<jme such simple general distribution. These parts are also the dorsal (Lat. dorsum, back) 

 and ventral (Lat. venter, belly) surfaces or aspects. The upper parts of the body proper, or 

 trunk, have also received the general name of notmum (Gr. varos, notos, back) ; the under parts, 

 similarly restricted, that of ga-ftrrmim (Gr. yaa-rrjp, gaster, belly) : but these terms are not 

 umch used now. These two are never naked, while both head and neck may be variously bare 

 of feathers. The only exception is the transient condition of certain birds during incubation, 

 when, like the eider duck, they pull off feathers to furnish the nest, or when the plumage, as 

 usually ha|ipens, wears off. The gastrasum is rarely ornamented with feathers different in 

 texture or structure from those of the plumage at large ; but such a case is furnished by our 

 Lewis's woodpecker (Asyndesmus torquatus). The notseum, on the contrary, is often the seat 

 iif extraordinary development of feathers, either in size, shape, or texture, or all three of these 

 fluaUties ; as the singularly elegant dorsal plumes of many herons. Individual feathers of the 

 nota^um are generally pennaceous, and for the most part straight and lanceolate ; and as a 

 whole lie smoothly shingled or imbricated. The ventral feathers are usually more largely 

 jilumulaceous, and less flat and imbricated, but even more compact, that is thicker, than those 

 of the upper parts ; especially among water birds, where they are more or less curly, and 

 very tliick set. There are subdivisions (jf the 



Notseum. — Beginning where the neck ends, and ending where the tail-coverts begin 

 (see fig. 2.5, 12), this part of a bird is .subdivided into back (Lat. dorsum; fig. 25, 11) and 

 ramp (Lat. uropryf/ium ; fig. 25, 1^!"). Tliese are ii\ direct continuaticra of each other, and their 

 limits are not precisely <lofined ; the feathers of both are of the pteryla dorsalk. In general, we 

 shiadd call the anterior two-thirds or three-fourths of notaium " back," and the rest " rump." 

 With the former are generally included the scapular or shoulder-feathers, scapulars or scapit- 

 laries : these are they that grow on \\u; pterylcc hnmerales. The region of notanim they repre- 

 sent is called scapiilare (Lat. scapula, shoulder-blade), and that part of notieum strictly 



