STERNA OF THE AGAMI. 



385 



blance than a long- neck, which after all is not a crane 

 neck, but one fullj^ as like those of the ostrich family, 

 they partake of the characters and some of the habits of 

 gallinaceous birds, — or rather they partake so equally 

 of the characters of many races, and so little of those 

 of any one, that in nature they stand alone and dis- 

 tinct, whatever may be the place assigned to them in 

 any system. It is also not a little remarkable, that 

 the sternum of these birds is as unique as their cha- 

 racter ; and this very clearly shows that no classifi- 

 cation of birds can be either natural or valuable as an 

 index to their history, of which the sternal apparatus 

 does not form a considerable and even the leading part. 



Agami. 



This is what we might expect ; because \vhen we 



carry our analysis as far as it can rationally be carried, 



c c 



