OSTEOLOGY OF BIRDS 



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than it is in the wild one. In the case of this class of the domesti- 

 cated birds as pointed out above, this would seem to be no more than 

 natural, for the domestication of the turkey has not been of such a 

 nature as to develop its brain mass through the influences of a species 

 of education ; its long contact with man has taught it nothing — quite 

 the contrary, for the bird has been almost entirely relieved from 

 the responsibility of using its wits to obtain its food, or to guard 

 against danger to itself. These factors are still in operation in the 

 case of the wild types, and the advance of civilization has tended 

 to sharpen them. 



From this point of view then, I would say, that mentally the 

 average wild turkey is stronger than the average domesticated one, 

 and I believe it will be found that in all these long years, the above 

 influences have affected the size of the brain mass for the latter 

 species in the way above indicated, and perhaps it may be possible 

 some day to appreciate this difference. Perhaps, too, there may 

 have been also a slight tendency on the part of the brain of the 

 wild turkey to increase in size, owing to the demands made upon 

 its functions due to the influences of man's nearer approach, and 

 the necessity of greater mental activity in consequence. 



Recently I examined a mounted skeleton of a female wild turkey 

 in the collections of the United States National Museum, and apart 

 from the skull, it presented the following characters. There were 

 15 vertebrae, the last one having a pair of free ribs, before we ar- 

 rived at the fused vertebrae of the dorsum. Of these latter there 

 were three coossified into one piece. 



The 1 6th vertebra supports a pair of free ribs that fail to meet 

 the sternum, there being no costal ribs for them. They bear un- 

 cinate processes. 



Next we find four pairs of ribs, that articulate with haema- 

 pophyses, and through them with the sternum. There are two free 

 vertebrae between' the consolidated dorsal ones and the pelvis ; and 

 the pelvis bears a pair of free ribs, the costal ribs of which articulate 

 by their anterior ends with the posterior borders of the pair of costal 

 ribs in front of them. A kind of long abutment exists at the middle 

 point on each, there to accommodate the articulation. There are 

 six free tail vertebrae plus a long, pointed pygostyle. The os fur- 

 cula is rather slender, being of a typical V-shaped pattern, with a 

 small and straight hypocleidium. With a form much as we find it 

 in the fowl, the pelvis is characterized by not having the ilia meet 

 the sacral crista in front. The prepubis is short and stumpy. The 



