1. neural spine. 2. neural canal. 3. prezygapophysis. 4. postzygapophysis. 5. posterior articular surface of centrum. 6. anterior articular surface of centrum. 7. vertebrarterial canal. 8. hypapophysis.] VERTEBRAL COLUMN. The vertebral column of birds is readily divisible into a very mobile cervical region, and an extremely rigid post-cervical region. In most birds the vertebral centra are without terminal epiphyses, but these structures are found in Parrots. The cervical vertebrae are generally large and vary in number from eight or nine to twenty-three in Swans. Except in some extinct forms, such as _Ichthyornis_ and _Apatornis_, in which they are biconcave, the centra are characterised by having saddle-shaped articulating surfaces, which in front are concave from side to side and slightly convex from above downwards, while posteriorly they are convex from side to side and concave from above downwards. The atlas is small and ring-like, and its centrum is fused with the axis forming the odontoid process. Cervical ribs are often well developed, and in some of the Ratitae they remain for a long time distinct from the vertebrae. The thoracic vertebrae are distinguished from the cervical by the fact that their true ribs are united to the sternum by means of sternal ribs. This distinction, however, though convenient, is somewhat arbitrary, as it has been shown that in the fowl and gannet, two pairs of ribs which in the adult are free from the sternum, are connected with it in the embryo. When, as in the Swans, the thoracic vertebrae are not all fused together, they generally have saddle-shaped articulating surfaces, but sometimes, as in the Penguins, Auks and Plovers, the centra are convex in front and concave behind. The trunk vertebrae generally have well-marked neural spines, while in the Divers the anterior ones have peculiar bifurcating hypapophyses. The trunk vertebrae are not readily divisible into thoracic and lumbar. There are two true sacral vertebrae, but as development proceeds a number of other vertebrae become fused with the true sacrals, the whole forming a large compound sacrum. These pseudosacral vertebrae generally include the lumbar, and some of the thoracic and caudal vertebrae. Sixteen to twenty vertebrae or even more may be included in the compound sacrum, and sometimes the whole of the trunk vertebrae are fused together. In _Archaeopteryx_ however but five vertebrae take part in the formation of the sacrum. In _Archaeopteryx_ there are twenty long caudal vertebrae, of which the last sixteen carry a pair of feathers apiece, but in all other birds the tail is short and in the great majority of cases the posterior vertebrae are fused together, forming the pygostyle. In the Ratitae and Tinamidae a pygostyle is rarely or imperfectly developed. In _Hesperornis_ there are twelve caudal vertebrae, six or seven of which are united by their centra only, forming an imperfect pygostyle.