34 



SORTATION. 



beak, leading on to the 

 " throat," which in turn 

 leads on to the "breast." 

 Below this is the lower 

 breast, bordered by the 

 "flanks,"and then comes 

 the abdomen, ending 

 with the "under tail 

 coverts," from under 

 which come the tail 

 feathers, whose upper 

 side we have already 

 seen. Again we have 

 the primaries and se- 

 condaries, with the con- 

 spicuous break between 

 them, leading up to the 

 carpal joint, the "under 

 wing coverts " being 

 along the top ; and on 

 ""• "" '^"'-••»- what answer to our 



armpits are the bird's "axillaries" we shall find so useful in 

 identification when we have to deal with genera and species. The 

 legs will be seen to correspond to human legs, much in4he same way 

 as the wings did to arms. The "femur," or thigh bone, is short and 

 is well up ; and the knee, with its " patella," comes above where the 

 wing crosses in the sketch. Below it is the " tibia," which has the 

 fibula as part of it, and then comes what is often called the bird's 

 knee, but which you can at once see, from the way it bends inwai-ds, 

 must be its ankle, and which is really in its upper portion the tibio- 

 tarsus ; from the knee to the foot runs what is known in the bird 

 books as the " tarsus," though it is really the tarso-metatarsus ; but the 

 point is of no practical importance in our present endeavour. Below 

 the tarsus come the toes ; the hallux, answering to our great toe, at 

 the back ; then the inner toe, coming from between the legs 

 outwards; then the middle toe; and the fourth or outer toe. The 

 fifth toe is missing in the birds ; when there are but three toes it is 

 the representative of our great toe which has gone ; when there are 

 but two toes, as with the Ostrich, it is the second and third that 

 remain. The normal number of phalanges or toe joints is 14, two 

 being in the hind toe, three in the inner toe, four in the middle toe, 

 and five in the outer toe. As we go on we shall find that these 

 numbers vary. But enough of this for a time; we are now strong 

 enough in terms to begin our attack on the four-toed birds. 



And we cannot begin better than by 

 I eliminating the PelecanidcB, which have 

 not only four well developed toes, but 

 have these toes all webbed together up to 

 the claws, being " totipalmate," as it is 

 called. That one distinction separates 

 the Cormorant, Shag, and Gannet, the 

 only representatives we have of the group, 

 from every other family in the British list. 



