H 
Osteological Studies of the Subfamily Ardeince. 
The proximal end is comparatively little enlarged ; it presents 
the usual sub-ellilptical facet for the humeral tubercle of the bone 
of the brachium, on its end, and shaft-wise, the ulnar facet is pre¬ 
sented for our examination. 
For its length and the general size of the bird, the shaft of 
the radius is quite slender. In form it is sub-trihedral with the 
salient angles rounded off. 
Its distal extremity, moderately dilated, and compressed from 
above, downwards, shows on its superior aspect the grooves for 
the lodgment of the tendons of the hand. A long narrow facet 
occupies the extreme end of the bone for the radiate of the carpus ; 
this end of the radius curling over in a downward direction, so 
when articulated in the normal position of rest it overlaps the ulna. 
Fig. 28.—Right lateral view of the skull of Nycticorax violaceus, ‘bird of the year’ (July). 
Life size from nature, from a Louisiana specimen collected by the author. 
When these bones of the anti-brachium of A. herodias are articu¬ 
lated as in life, I find that the interosseous space, occupies but a 
little more than the proximal half of the distance between their 
extremities, while for the remainder, they almost come in contact 
with each other, being but slightly separated again just before 
arriving at their distal ends 
Usually the ulna is quite straight, or has only a slight degree 
of curvature, but in the present subject it is bowed nearly as much 
as the radius and very much in the same way. It is hardly nec¬ 
essary to say that in common with the radius and the skeleton of 
the pinion, that it is likewise found to be a perfectly non-pneu¬ 
matic bone. Its shaft is about two-and-a-half times the size of 
the radius, but instead of being sub-trihedral in form, it is nearly 
cylindrical. 
