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 The chief organs of motion in the pigeon are the wings, which are very powerful when compared with the size and strength of the birds. In form they are long and pointed, differing essentially from the short rounded concave wings of the ordinary gallinaecous birds.

The wings are well adapted to urge the bird through the air in its long-sustained flight, which sometimes approaches a speed of three miles a minute, and has been kept up for eight consecutive hours at an average speed of forty-five miles an hour. The bones of the wing are shown in Figure I., where a represents the scapula

FIG. I.—BONES OF THE WING OF THE PIGEON.

a. Scapula or blade-bone; b c. Humerus cr arm-bone; c d. Radius and ulna, bones and fore-arms; g. Index finger; g e f. Bones of hand.

or blade-bone, lying over the ribs on the back. To this is attached, by a movable joint, the arm-bone or humerus, extending from b to c; then follows the fore-arm or portion of the wing from c to d, this is formed of two bones, the ulna and radius;

FIG. II.—PRIMARY AND SECONDARY FEATHERS IN THE WING OF THE PIGEON.

from d to f are the bones which correspond with those of the human hand—the small pointed bone g being the first finger. The second figure shows very clearly