54 BODY, OR TEUNK. 



those of the point of the bill in some birds ; and 

 when we consider that, by the aid of its other me- 

 chanism, and without any apparatus but what 

 God has given it in its own structure, it will strike 

 prey under the birch in Lapland, and again perform 

 the same feat under the palm by the bank of the 

 Niger, before the same spot of earth has thrice seen 

 the sun, it is passing wonderful, and should, even 

 under the worst of the little casualties of life, make us 

 grateful to God for giving us such things for our 

 contemplation. 



THE BODY, OR TRUXK. 



The body of birds, that is, the dorsal and the lumbar 

 portion of the spine, upon which the body or trunk 

 may be said to be articulated, has no specific action 

 to perform in what may be termed the working 

 motions. Hence, though it is composed of vertebrEe, 

 and by that means less liable to fracture than if it 

 were a single bone of the same substance, the vertebrae 

 admit of little motion, most of them are soldered 

 together, and some of the junctions in time become 

 ossified. It is the same with the sternum or principal 

 bone on the under part. That is very large, and 

 consists of five bones, which are closely united from 

 the first, and ultimately soldered into one. One of 

 these occupies the centre, two the sides anteriorly, 

 and two posteriorly, the latter being forked at their 

 posterior edges, though in some species the termina- 

 tions of the forks are united by bone. The sternum 

 in birds is a very important bone. One of its uses is 

 to support the muscles which move the ■\\'ings in fly- 

 ing ; another to protect the contents of the body from 

 injury or pressure from beneath, and a third to give 

 support and firmness to them. From the number and 



