The femur is short, and the tibia and fibula of great length, as is the foot, the whole of which is applied to the ground when the animal is at rest in the upright position.
The tibia and fibula are fused at their upper and lower ends.
C. Marsh, by finding the imperfect fossilized tibia of a bird in the middle cretaceous shale of Kansas, Marsh, began a series of wonderful discoveries of great im portance to ornithology.
The condyles of the tibia are in reality not parts of this bone, but are the three proximal tarsalia which fuse together and with the distal end of the tibia.
Order Colymbiformes.-Plantigrade, nidifugous, aquatic. All toes webbed, fourth largest, hallux short; metatarsus laterally compressed; tibia with high, pyramidal crest.
