OSTEOLOGY OF BIRDS 



199 



Coturnix also has a very large prepubis, while its postpubis is 

 nearly all aborted, only the anterior and posterior ends remaining. 



This quail is also remarkable for possessing seven free caudal 

 vertebrae, in addition to its stumpy pygostyle. Its scapulae are very 

 long and very narrow ; their posterior ends reaching as far back as 

 the ilia. Its sternum agrees with our Perdicinae, but is relatively 

 shorter, with the external pair of xiphoidal prolongations stouter 

 and their free extremities more expanded. Anteriorly it is much 

 scooped out to make room for the large hypocleidium of the furcula ; 

 but its border there does not exhibit the vertical, median grooving as 

 well marked as we find it in Colinus and other related forms. The 

 pattern of its sternal manubrium is also different, as its lower an- 

 terior angle is produced and pointed ; this does not even agree with 

 the grouse or with G . b a n k i v a . We find in its spinal column 

 15 free vertebrae before we arrive at the piece formed by the con- 

 solidated four of the dorsal region. Another free one occurs be- 

 tween this latter and the pelvis. Ribs are arranged as in other true 

 quails and the Perdicinae. 



The bones of its wing are slightly longer, relatively, than they 

 are in Colinus. and the ulna is somewhat more curved. Among 

 the quails the femur of the pelvic limb is invariably uou pneumatic , 

 the reverse being the case among the grouse and the fowls. 



The remaining bones of this extremity are never pneumatic in 

 typical Gallinae, any more than are the bones of the antibrachium 

 and pinion. Some of the tendons in either pair of limbs are very 

 prone to ossify in this suborder of birds, a fact that may possibly 

 be explained in their vigorous flight and rasorial habits. 



Finding the skeletons of the Perdicinae so much upon the struc- 

 tural plan of the wild G . b a n k i v a , we would naturally look 

 for the skeletons of our other United States Gallinae, as the ptar- 

 migans, grouse, turkeys and Ortalis, still more closely to approach 

 it in that particular, and in this we are not mistaken, for each and 

 all are found to do so in many of their skeletal characters. Never- 

 theless we also find that in many of them very marked departures 

 are to be found in the morphology of some of their bones. 



Both Canachites (Dendragapus) obscurus and 

 canadensis have a skull, with its associated bony parts, very 

 much like those structures in the wild chicken of India. Two main 

 differences to be noticed are the far greater length of the 

 lamelliform squamosal processes in the grouse, and the existence in 



