38 
THE BONES. 
instance, where the wings are little more than fins assisting 
in diving, or the Ostrich and Cassowary, where they are so 
small and insignificant as merely to assist in balancing their 
bodies when they run, the keel of the breast-bone is entirely 
wanting, or the furcula or merry-thought very imperfectly 
developed. On the other hand, in the Eagle and Hawk 
tribe, they are proportionately strong, conspicuous, and well 
defined. 
The hones of the wings next come under observation; and 
these, as may he expected, in birds of prey, and some others, 
which have to carry their food frequently to a considerable 
distance, or live much in the air, are of great length ; 
whereas, in domestic fowls, they are very small in propor- 
tion to the size of their bodies ; and in the Penguins, which 
as has been observed, live almost entirely on the water, and, 
in diving, may he said to fly beneath its surface, they are 
remarkable for their flattened appearance, as if they had been 
pressed ; approaching more to the form of a fin than a wing, 
much resembling the flappers of a turtle. 
The last bones which remain for consideration, are those 
composing the legs and feet, which are the more worthy of 
attention, inasmuch, as to a certain degree, upon these, and 
of the feet more especially, depends the division or classifi- 
cation of birds. 
It is not, however, our intention to enter into an expla- 
nation of what is called the anatomical structure of these 
limbs, further than to point out wherein they resemble or 
differ from our own, and correct a very common mistake 
into which inexperienced observers are apt to fall. We 
prefix two figures, No. 1 representing the leg of a man ; 
bT o. 2, that of a bird; in which the corresponding divisions 
of each are marked by similar letters. 
Here we see the legs both divided into three parts, 
exclusive of the actual foot. The first from a to B; the 
second from b to C; the third from c to d. How, without 
attending carefully to these divisions, we might be apt to 
conclude that birds have one more division than human 
beings ; but this is not the case. The mistake on our 
