INTRODUCTOEY COLLECTION. 
29 
The other systems of organs of the class will occupy the 
remainder of this bay. 
Bay ISTo. III. is devoted to the class of Birds. An Albatross Bay III. 
(Biomedea exulans) mounted with the wings expanded, shows structure 
the most important characters by which a bird is externally of Birds. 
' distinguished from other animals. The surface of the body is 
clothed with feathers, which (in the majority of birds), by their 
great size and special arrangement upon the fore-limbs, enable 
these to act as organs of flight. The mouth is in the form of 
a horny beak. An Emu {Dromdeus novse-liolloMdise) shows the 
exceptional condition, found only in a comparatively few 
members of the class, of a bird with wings so small as to be 
concealed beneath the general feathery covering of the body, 
and quite functionless. 
In the first wall-case the principal facts in the osteology of the 
class are shown. Sections of bones exhibit the large air cavities 
within ; a complete skeleton of an Eagle, with the bones sepa- 
rated and named, and mounted skeletons of the Ostrich, Penguin, 
Pelican, Vulture, Eowl, &c., show the chief modifications of the 
skeleton. The Apteryx shows the smallest, and the Erigate 
bird the largest bones of the wing, the correspondence of which 
can be readily traced by means of the labels attached to them. 
The under surfaces of the skulls of various birds are shown 
with the different bones coloured to indicate their limits and 
relations, followed by a series of the different types of sternum 
or breast-bone. 
The table-case in the middle of the bay contains illustrations 
of the external characters, the beak, the feathers and the tail, as 
well as of the fore and hind limbs, or wings and feet. By the 
aid of the explanatory labels, the essential characters, and the 
principal modifications of all these parts, can easily be followed 
out by any one wishing to become acquainted with them. 
Bays IV. and V. completing the west side of the hall, will, Contents of 
in a similar manner, show the most important points in the pays^^ 
structure of reptiles and fishes. In the latter has already ])een completed, 
placed a very fine skeleton of the Great Blue Shark (Carcliarodon 
rondehtii) from New Zealand, with the names of all the parts 
affixed to them. 
Of the bays on the east side of the hall, ISTo. VI. is 'for the 
