SKELETON 



7 



Birds, and certain Petrels, but dwindles almost to disappearance 

 in some flightless forms such as the Dodo, the Kakapo (Stringops), 

 the extinct New Zealand Goose {Gnemiornis), and a good many 

 Rails. The absence of a keel is characteristic of the other and 

 smaller group of Birds, made up of the Ostrich, Ehea, Emeu and 



Fig 2 —Skeleton of the trunk of a Falcon. Cfa, ooracoid, which articulates with the 

 ' sternum {St) at t ; C»', keel of aternuni ; Fu (CI), furcula (clavicles) ; G, glenoid 

 cavity for humerus ; -S', scapula ; Uu, imcinate process ; V, vertebral, and -Sjj, sternal, 

 portion of rib. (From Wiedersheim.) 



Cassowary, Moa and Kiwi, which from the resemblance the 

 sternum thus bears to a flat-bottomed bpat {ratis) are known as 

 Ei(tAiae. Whether keeled or not, the breast -hone affords a 

 surface of attachment to the principal muscles of the fore-limbs, 

 and its anterior end supports the coracoids, as in Fig. 2. Various 

 processes are in most cases developed on the sides of the sternum 

 itself, behind its junction with the ribs, especially towards the 



