. A history of British birds, indigenous and migratory: including their organization, habits, and relations; remarks on classification and nomenclature; an account of the principal organs of birds, and observations relative to practical ornithology .. . hairs, termin-ated by a few filaments, are interspersed among the wings are always broad, generally long, and more or lessrounded ; the primary quills ten. the secondary thirteen or fif- 392 STRIGIN^:. teen ; the filaments of the outer web of the outermost quillusually separated at the end and recurved. The tail, always oftwelve mor
. A history of British birds, indigenous and migratory: including their organization, habits, and relations; remarks on classification and nomenclature; an account of the principal organs of birds, and observations relative to practical ornithology .. . hairs, termin-ated by a few filaments, are interspersed among the wings are always broad, generally long, and more or lessrounded ; the primary quills ten. the secondary thirteen or fif- 392 STRIGIN^:. teen ; the filaments of the outer web of the outermost quillusually separated at the end and recurved. The tail, always oftwelve more or less arched feathers, varies in length, but isgenerally short and even, or slightly rounded. The cranium is always short, of extreme breadth behind,somewhat triangular, and of very large size ; but its bulk is ina great measure produced by the separation of its two tables bythe intervention of numerous cells. The orbits are excessivelylarge, and separated by a bony septum, Avhich is generally com-plete, sometimes thickened, and in the genus Strix more thana quarter of an inch in breadth, and cellular. The superciliarybone is not present as in the Falconinae, or exists merely in arudimentary state, and is never distinct. The nasal cavity is. rather large ; that of the ear extremely so ; but not in propor-tion to the external parts. The vertebrae vary in number;but there are generally twelve cervical, eight or nine dorsal,twelve sacral, and eight caudal; of which the last is usuallynot half the size of that of the falconine birds. The ribs,seven in number, are very slender. The sternum is very short,small when compared with those of the Hawks or Vultures, OWLS. 393 with the sides nearly parallel, the ridge or keel very prominent,and well advanced, the posterior margin with four coracoid bones are long, considerably flattened, moderatelyspreading ; the furcula very slender, of the form of the letterV, never so wide as in the Hawks ; the scapulae very long, nar-row
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookidhistoryofbr, booksubjectbirdsgreatbritain
