OSTEOLOGY OF BIBDS 



135 



they belong, is the remarkable length of their legs. Long as these 

 are, however, their osteologic characters are really accipitrine and 

 not ciconiine or herodionine. 



In other words, great length of legs in a raptorial bird is by no 

 means indicative that that bird is derived from an ancestral stock 

 from which has descended the true waders and their kin. 



